Robyn, thanks for the laugh ...even when you pop in for two seconds, you still make my day better! When my spring break is over, I have tons of work awaiting me as well between my annual report, testing, parent surveys, etc. That is why I am trying to do what I can at home during this week off. I have preschool registration and parent/teacher conferences as soon as I step in my school next week. I just want it to be June 21st.

Today, I am meeting a friend from school with her two kids at the beach. It has a great playground and miniature golf course among other things. I was gonna get lunch out today, but since I'm planning on being less large this summer, I thought better of that. Instead I will pack us a healthy picnic lunch.

I got my VW back last night with the new radio...best of all, covered by warranty!!! Like a dimwit, I hit the keys for my programmed stations expecting them to come on ...duh...it is an entirely new radio...the programmed stations went in the garbage with the old radio. Imagine being that stupid...whenever I am off school more than two days, I dumb down. I don't know the date, let alone the day of the week. In the summer it gets really bad how dumb I get. Phew! Anyway, it is nice to have a radio again.

Take care everyone!

Hi!
Robyn- Well, you did get that blouse.....right??? You crack me up-what a wonderful sense of humor. Got a big bday on Saturday???? Lots of happy thoughts your way.....and have a wonderful day. Any special plans?

Summer- thanks for the good idea for getting around Dh and his obsession. Dd and I team up well together and we do manage to get out and do stuff. And I am also pretty happy alone....just would be nice to see Dh off a ball field sometimes. Or talk about something other than bball. Good for you packing in that healthy lunch.......there will be less of you to love this summer!!!!

Pam-don't think that 10# is unreasonable......and actually any loss would be good. Use 10 as a guideline, and don't be too hard on yourself. 27 days left....I am happy for you!!! Now, as far as Ds goes... perhaps you can hire a drill sergeant for a week to beat some sense into him.


So far so good for today.....got a 20 minute walk in this am and then after my am did a 30 minute WATP tape. (still ticked off about the 1.6# last week and after I hopped on the scale the other day it is still not budging.) Probably get to WW Thursday.
Gotta go help out at Dd's school for lunch....my day a lunch monitor volunteer. See ya later!
Ginny

Well, it is 70 degrees, sunny, and beautiful today. I just got home from the beach, and I have just a touch of sunburn! That doesn't usually occur in CT in April. I dug out a pair of capris, a sleeveless shirt, and flip flops to wear with my windbreaker. The windbreaker came on and off depending on the wind. The amazing thing was all of the people in bathing suits. As I sat in my beach chair and surveyed the scene, I was blown away by the boldness of many overweight women wearing bikinis. I haven't worn a bikini in 15 years because I have had a gut and a butt that have needed to be contained in a full-piece. I'm not even nuts about squeezing into my full-piece this summer. Checking out the crowd was good for me. It reminded me of all of the work I need to do on myself. I don't have to look like them. I don't have to feel self-conscious (not that any of those people did ).

Summer-
glad you had such a nice day, at the beach eh? Oh, I hear ya about the shameless ones at the beach, we all reach a time in our lives when you don't have to shop at Omar the Tentmaker for a suit, but a little more coverage is better than less. I was SO happy when 2 years ago I bought a tankini from Lands End.....which actually looks pretty good on me and covers a lot. Hope you had a nice restful time at the beach, and relaxed. Keep up the great attitude about getting in shape for summer.......some really good positive thinking going on!

I am excited....actually have a buddy to go to WW with!!! Long story, but our kids are in the same class.....I have been "floating" from meeting to meeting, getting there but a diffferent one each week- and last week I bumped into her there. She was sweet and dropped me a note- and we have it worked it out that we can most of the time get to the same meeting. And she is a pleasant person to boot......maybe this will help me break out of this slump. I did actually get another short walk in 15 min- and might try to do something else this evening.......
Ok,I am such a big mouth, better stop babbling. Hope everyone had a great day.
See ya !
Ginny

G'evening all.
Yesterday, I was seriously depressed when I left the building. My team leader spent 45 minutes telling me how my problems were all my own fault, and that I should look at things from my supervisor's point of view: he has all these problems, I'm not helping by adding more, and he only ever hears the negative stuff about me because I won't stand up for myself. Her advice is that I should go tattle on other people like my TA, or tell him what really happened when I told the other staff to off. And I should have told him that the construction students weren't supervised appropriately and were too close to the staff cars that are parked near the shop. I just rolled my eyes. I don't DO that stuff. I'm not a tattle tale, and typically go to the other staff member with the issue directly or don't say anything at all. I was almost in tears by the time she left noting all the ways that he has NEVER supported me or thanked me or congratulated me. And she had to agree with me. She didn't want to, but she was nodding her head at the end. I do see his point of view, and I recognize that because I don't go tattle or talk to him about these issues that he only hears one side of it. But if he wants to hear the whole story he can come ask me. So, its pretty obvious that he doesn't want to hear the whole story. I've told you guys countless times where he hasn't investigated and gone whole hog into a disciplinary action but hasn't done any research to see if the story he got was even accurate!
Today was a little better, though. I got through the day, and then went to the softball game after school. They needed another certified driver, which I am, so I sat in 90 degree heat in my school clothes (I got asked this morning, and the only shorts I had with me were my gym shorts. They're too short for me to wear near the kids. I have several pairs of knee length shorts and some capris that I wear to work for outside stuff or really hot summer days), getting battered by the dust from the field, in direct sunlight (which every med I'm on says to avoid direct sunlight and too much heat). Our kids lost, too... the other team cheated. But I just kept thinking about how involved I am with these kids. Not that I haven't been with other schools and other students, but I get kids coming back that I never TAUGHT... I just knew them because another staff member had them and I talked to them sometimes or they spent 45 minutes every other week with me in the community service club. The last 2 years we didn't do a whole lot because we never went off-campus... this is the first year that we've done the off-campus stuff.
And damn it, its NOT FAIR! If it were my choice to leave, that'd be one thing. I'm not saying the money isn't great, that having the summer off would be great... I'm doing this because I like the kids. Its not fair that the adults are ruining it.
Okay. I'm happy, really, I am. Tomorrow's a half day, and I only have 2 classes. Remind to tell you guys about our lesson on what EXACTLY constitutes a computer. And my mom is coming to talk to the kids next week about the history of computers. She just retired and has worked with computers since the 60s.

Well....I'm getting closer to my blouse.... only $64 to go! Whhhooohoooo... Sorry to not get personal... there was no miracle here in my living room last night... the darn report card comments did not write themselves. I *EVEN* slept on my grade book JUST in case that worked. NADA. Didn't do anything but give me a weird line on my face from the spiral. So. Here I sit. With 4 comments left to write. And here I sit. Avoiding the work. My head hurts from the thought of having to say nice things. 4. I only had 17. 4. Last year I had 27 to deal with. 4. CERTAINLY I can knock out the last 4 before 11 pm. Watching Rachel Ray and listening to the dryer... I have no pants to wear to school tomorrow...and well there IS a dress code about going bottomless when you're the teacher....darn rules! So here I sit...listening to the t.v. and waiting for the dryer to ding the news that I will not embarrass the world as I head to work tomorrow! oh, and well, I AM avoiding my school work. 4. Maybe I could try sleeping on the plan book AND the grade book. Yeah. I think I should try THAT!

Ya'll take care..........
I've GOT to get these 4 nice comments done...EVEN IF it kills me!
~R

Morning Ladies,
Just a quick hello before I head off to bed. I went to TOPS tonight and lost 3 3/4 pounds. I was the weekly losser. I was so happy. I think I have rededicated myself to losing the weight and will do it this. Well I best go to bed,so I can get up at 5:30 to do my walking video.
Talk to you all this evening sometime.
Take care,
Kerry

Ginny, congrats on finding a WW buddy!!! I'm sure this will really help you be even more successful. I've been trying to find someone like that outside of cyberspace, but have had no luck as of yet.

Robyn, I feel your exhaustion and brain freeze...been there, done that, will be there and do it again soon! I have parent/teacher conferences next week with parents that I see and speak with every friggin day. The state requires that I send home a written communication every day as well. They know it all. There is nothing left to tell. It will be a real challenge to say anything let alone something positive...it has already been said!!! But, you have a creative mind, so I have no doubt you will not only finish your comments, you will have arrived in school today properly dressed! (You are so funny when you are pooped!)

Kerry, CONGRATULATIONS!!! I know why you lost all that weight, you are unstoppable!!! You are amazingly active. Of course you lost nearly 4 pounds. YOU GO GIRL!!!!!

I have class tonite. I'm so done with all of this bullsh*t. But, I only have a couple more papers to write and 4 more classes to attend. The end of it is near. And, knowing that my fall class is going to be a trip (Enhance Learning Through Humor) makes me not dread the fall as much as I usually would.

Yesterday's touch of sunburn is full-blown red sunburn. I can't believe that I could get sunburn in mid-April in Connecticut. I guess I will have to get some sunscreen! I never expected to have to contemplate buying sunscreen when there was snow on the ground just a couple of weeks ago! I guess we won't be have four seasons anymore. Spring is gone, the high's for today are going to be in the 80's!!!

Good morning-
Mouse- I sure hope that today goes better.......and I am reminding you to tell us about your Dm and her presentation on computers. I am clueless regarding how to handle the nitwits that you work with. Guess there has to be someway to at least document all the stuff you have to go thru...send a memo/email to your supervisor in as non accusational mode as possible. That way it sounds less like tattling.....and more just stating fact with a "how can this be improved?" approach. Don't know if I am helping a bit..... Sounds as though you dislike this darned hot weather too!!!!

Kerry- you are awesome!!!! Big time loser!!!! Congrats. Hope you and Leslie had a wonderful time this am.

Summer- spring is gone here too...so hot too fast. How did your class go?

Robyn- you must be one insane lady to be with on an all nighter......you are so funny here- can't imagine how nuts you must be in person. Get those little spiral indentations out of your cheeks yet?? Somehow I know you managed to say 4 nice things....and hopefully got some pants to wear today to boot!!

So far had to do a safety drill this am....emergency evacuation stuff....kiddies jumping out the back door of the bus....oh what fun......they pay me for this live entertainment too!! (and thankfully tomorrow IS pay day). Did get 45 minutes of real walking in too. Might squeeze in one mile with Leslie in a wee bit. Seems SO hard to stay away from food today with TOM a few days away. And can't wait for the cold front to show up.....don't like 80 degree weather.
Gotta go be productive. See ya!
Ginny

I just popped in for a sec and noticed the name of another thread on our forum, Support Groups. It is called, "Curvey Vixens!" WOW!!! That is some name. Are we too boring? Should we change our names? Maybe we could be, "Teachers struttin their stuff!" or "Teachers with 'tude!" or "Teachers/Hotties!" What do ya think? See ya "Hot chicks!"

I popped in and visited the Curvey Vixens. After some light reading, I discovered that they are quite the fun-loving group. I also wanted to tell them that I love their name. We really need to spice ourselves up. I feel like we are in a rut. Any suggestions?

Gee Summer, I will have to think on that one......I agree that our current name might sound stodgy. And we are anything but that! Exotic educators????? Educational basket cases??? Ok, my thinking cap got run over by a truck...and I am tired. And I am not at all funny when I am tired, much unlike our cohort in crime, Robyn. But I will keep thinking.

I am glad today is over. Although tomorrow is not Friday, public is closed on Friday and Monday for Passover, so my life becomes so much easier. I will have to work, but don't have to deal with the large number of kiddies.

Better go email my Dm and get some rest. See ya tomorrow!
Ginny

Paisley, I LOVE JIMMY BUFFET!!! We have his box set, and during our honeymoon (12 years ago) we drove from Boca Raton to Venice, Florida in a non-air conditioned car in July singing to him the entire way! He is coming to Mohegan Sun Casino this summer and if our financial situation were better, we would be there with bells on.

A doctorate, WOW! I'm just beginning my master's degree. A two hour hike across the island both ways? EEK! But more money in your paycheck...tough decision.

Ginny, enjoy less kids to transport.

Last night during class, I got back my two page lesson plan. I got a 19.5 out of 21. Not bad, but this was my lowest grade so far. Out of 177 total points so far, I have 174, so I am still doing very well. The professor nit picked on some stupid sh*t. The only people doing well is the other teacher and myself. She knows the other teacher from prior classes and she really favors him. She has personal conversations and private jokes with him at the expense of the rest of the class. Her behavior is so inappropriate. Even though I am jealous of the favoritism she is showing him, I know it is wrong, and I'm glad she isn't treating me special because it isn't ethical. Besides, I wouldn't want all my classmates to hate my guts. Instead, I am the mother who answers their questions, helps them figure stuff out, and ends up doing a lot of the teaching that the professor is either too lazy or too incompetent to do. Well, she has picked on me in a subtle way since classes began. Don't ask me why. Being a mature adult, I look her straight in the eye and diplomatically defend myself. I am careful not to be rude since she is the head of the department I will be matriculating in. Anyway, last night she commented that she should have made me do my unit for a different grade than I teach. Why? Am I too successful for her taste? Or maybe just to level the playing field? Guess what? I also taught kindergarten, and student taught in both K and 1st grade. I'm not an idiot. I am a certified teacher, and I certainly would have been just as successful designing my unit for a higher grade. Yes, doing pre-K was comfortable, but I would have done well with any grade because I put the time in and work my a*s off. Besides it is not my fault that these kids with a BS or BA in an unrelated field are trying to take a short cut and become teachers by taking graduate courses which are advanced courses and should only be taken by people with a BS in Education. These kids are not prepared to do graduate work in education. They have no foundation in education to build upon. So, they dumb down the grad courses, and it is still too hard for them. Only now, it is too easy for those of us with a 4 year degree in education. Now nobody wins. Add to that a professor who clearly has no idea how to teach, and the only people that can succeed are those like me who are already certified teachers. Even if they manage to produce the papers and unit she assigns, I guarantee they have learned nothing from her, maybe a little from the textbook.

Then she got into it with me over my classroom management techniques. She wanted me to tell the class my methods. Since I get interrupted a lot, I gave a very brief explanation...not going into details. And the details were pretty important, so I kick myself for leaving those out. Well, she went off on me how what I'm doing isn't effective. Guess what? I have the best classroom control of anyone in my school. The principal and director of early childhood have both said so. That is why naughty children in other grades are sent to me for shaping up. Well, I didn't take her criticism lying down. I defended my tactics as well as I could. I even said, "I am always open to suggestions." Her response was "Oh no, I won't do that." Okay, she can criticize me, but she can't give me the superior alternative? Let me tell you, I wanted to jump on her and really let her have it. Then as the questions started rolling in, rather than instruct everyone on behavior management techniques, she said that you really can't teach behavior management. Nobody at the university does. WRONG!!! 13 years ago, I learned from the best professors all about behavior management. There were quite a few courses that either delved deeply into it or at least included it. If these professors are no longer at SCSU, what a huge loss! Since then, I have worked under various behavior specialists in both special and regular education. I have attended multiple dynamic seminars on it. If you ask me, it is the professor who needs some help with her behavior management knowledge.

But, I have to try to get along with this witch like it or not. Let her try to humiliate me. As long as I get my "A," I don't give a sh*t.

G'evening all.
I'll tell you the good stuff first, that lesson... I gave the kids a dictionary definition of a computer. Merriam Webster says a computer is, "A programmable, electronic device that can store, retrieve and process data." And I'm thinking, dang... that's darned near EVERYTHING today! So, that was the drill. Then, I broke the definition down: what does this mean, what does that mean. Give me an example. Lots of our kids have language issues so this kind of thing is really common. Then, I started naming off items: photocopier, tv, vcr, microwave, coffee maker... are these computers? No? Let's go through the definition... And then we did a on-campus mini-field trip to a work room that had a copier, microwave, phone and computer in it. We took our definition with us, and stood there around the various devices seeing if they fit our definition. Then, I really hit 'em... I'd point to the device, "This is a computer, right? Okay. Is it like THAT computer over there? (and point to the real desktop system). It is? Can you go on the Internet with this microwave? How about play a video game? No? Is the microwave a computer?" There were several staff in the room with us, and the one guy was so impressed (one of our transition specialists) that he got involved with the lesson and started asking questions of the kids. It was really neat.
And they've mostly got it.
The other thing, my mom was going to come talk to them about the history of the information technology field. She was in the field for 40 years. She started working as a keypunch operator for Phillip Morris and Virginia Power in the 60s. She just retired from 25 (maybe more) years as a computer operator/programmer for the department of defense. She's BEEN THERE. She was alive and there when they built Univac. She SAW them use Univac when they did the Dwight Eisenhower/Adelai Stevenson poll prediction. She used punch cards. She used the huge keyboards without monitors that were hooked directly to a printer. She used that green bar paper. I played video games on the computer network with her and a 50 baud modem when I was in kindergarten (or just before).
I've been there too... I remember growing up explaining to people about my job on an on-line service (Playnet... look THAT one up!), and later, PeopleLink, BIX/Delphi... by using the movie War Games with Matthew Broderick (and the modem and the disks he used). My students take the Internet for granted, but even 10 years ago when I first got my own Internet account... The World Wide Web is, quite seriously, less than 20 years old!!!!! Think about it!
And, my supervisor in his infinite wisdom, has said that he will not approve my mother coming to speak to the kids. Mind you, he's met my mother. She helped us at a field trip in Hershey PA last year... we had to be at this tech expo by 8:30, and that wasn't possible coming from Baltimore. She went and set everything up for us so we wouldn't lose our spot. She is also a Hershey stockholder, and got us tickets to a really cool show on the history of chocolate over at Hersheypark/Chocolateworld. He didn't have a problem with her then... and he knows she met our kids. My mom has done this stuff for years: she came into MY elementary classrooms and talked about her experience; she did career days in middle school.
Oh, and remember all those times I said, "Well, at least I can earn comp time for all the extra stuff I do"? I'm not allowed to earn comp time anymore. Obviously, I wouldn't be able to use it all by June... but they don't intend to compensate me at all for the extras. So I'm not going to do as much. I'm going on strike.