quotes

It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities ~ J. K. Rowling


Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage ~ Lao Tzu

State of the Union

Just reading the State of the Union speech on my snow day and it's quite inspiring.   Some thoughts:

• I agree that we need to focus on clean energy and support research in that area because that will create jobs, reduce the amount of CO2 in the air and help us reduce pollution (and make people healthier).  
• I agree that we need to support education more, and I liked that parental support was mentioned, but what about early child care to help students before they get to 1st grade?  
• I agree that we need to rebuild our infrastructure and I would love to see trains running across America more so than they are now, not only for industry (goods moving more than 100 miles should be on trains, not trucks) but for passengers.  I wish I could take a train from Harrisonburg to DC.  How about putting rail lines in the I-81 median?
• I agree that we need to work on decreasing the deficit and I hope that they are able to simplify the tax code and tax our wealthiest 2%. "It's not about their success, it's about America's success." [paraphrased] which makes me think of JFK's speech: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." I'll be hanging that in my classroom tomorrow.
• I agree that we need to restructure the government, and found it quite amusing that salmon are regulated by three different departments.
• Nice call out on the Afghan government to do a better job.

Overall good speech. Time to see if people will actually get stuff done.

quote of the day

“For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.” -a.h.

MLK 50+ years later

We were all involved in the death of John Kennedy.  We tolerated hate; we tolerated the sick stimulation of violence in all walks of life; and we tolerated the differential application of law, which said that a man's life was sacred only if we agreed with his views.  ~Martin Luther King, Jr., Why We Can't Wait, 1963


Change "death" to "shooting" and "John Kennedy" to Congresswoman Giffords, and MLK Jr is still applicable today, 50 years later.

Sudan

This is so beautiful: "For freedom," she said. "I am very happy to vote, it's my first time, I am old and I can't see much, but I voted for my children." (CNN, Southern Sudan Referendum, thanks Lindsay)

Oh Middle School

Just a quick thought before I head out to school, and yes it is 6:15am.  Ugggg.  I learned yesterday that middle schoolers will give you attitude when they get mad at themselves for doing something stupid.  For example, students were given 15 minutes yesterday to correct mistakes on their exams.  Most used the time wisely, listened to the directions and gained a lot of points back.  One girl in the last class had chosen not to listen to the directions (just write the number and the answer, not the entire question) and had been writing the entire question out.  When I came around to collect the tests and the corrections, she tried to keep writing long after everyone else had turned theirs in.  Being the student teacher in her 3rd day, I wasn't going to grab the paper from her because I expected a backlash from that.  Finally, midway through the next activity my cooperating teacher (CT) came over and took the paper from her.  The girl slumped in her seat, crumpled papers and had a bad attitude the rest of the class.  Lovely.  I love 8th grade.

Happy Belated Holidays

The highlights from the 2010 holiday season:
-Seeing my friend Sean who is posted in Ukraine with the Peace Corps
-Seeing my friend McKenzie and getting to catch up
-Being woken up at 7:30am by my cousin's kids Patrick (4 yrs) and Logan (8 mo) as they climb into bed to watch cartoons
-Snow on Christmas morning
-Sledding every day after Christmas while we were stuck on top of the mountain
-Hot tub in 15º weather
-Finishing a couple books
-Outlet shopping
-Seeing friends in DC for New Years plus making new friends ;o)
-Having the best New Years I could have asked for!
-Deep tissue massages that actually get the knots out

How was your Holiday Season?

Educators

Our work as educators is about giving young people access to the opportunities and choices that can move them beyond the struggles of their parents and into a life of their own making. -Bob Lenz

wow it's been a long time

December has seemed to fly by, between finishing school work, seeing my parents in Charlottesville, surviving finals week, a YAG shindig in Butler, PA, and then home for 2 days.  I can't believe that Christmas is only 4 days away, I feel like it should be more time.  I think having our semester run longer than normal has thrown my schedule off.  Here's a list of what's happened in December:
-wrote a unit plan with 2 classmates on the protestant reformation that ended up being over 100 pages long, complete with 5 lessons, supplementals and anchoring activities.  We spent 7 hours straight in the library on Monday to finish it, and were going crazy by the end.
-Went to Charlottesville with the parents, had a fantastic dinner at Bizous on the downtown mall and then saw Natalie MacMasters in concert at the Paramount Theater.  Fantastic show!  She's a fiddler with lots of celtic influences, 7 months pregnant and was dancing around on stage.  We then got to see my uncle Tad and his new wife Kelly at the farm the next day.
-Shindig was held at Garrett's house in Butler, PA. I forgot that I had a camera so I'll have to steal other's pictures.  We had about 18 of us together and it was great to see everyone, especially those that I haven't seen in 2 years. Plus I got to drive up to Pittsburgh the day before and stay with Amanda and Matt, so it was great to see them.
-New Years plans are finalized and I'm heading to DC!  Can't wait until I actually live there.
-Discovered that a few of my YAG friends are now living in DC, so I can't wait until I move there so I can have everyone over to where ever I live and get all of my random friends to meet each other.  Plus I found out that my cousin Nick is living in DC too!  Even more reason to head that way!
-Got home yesterday and we had a great fancy dinner (Mom got out the china) and then during clean up we had a family towel war, boys v. girls.  Alex was then hungry so at 10:30 we proceeded to make double chocolate peppermint cookies.  So yummy.
-Swam this morning, a total of 600 meters, which compared to what I used to do in an hour (~4,000 meters) is nothing, but it was nice to get back in the water.  However, my suit didn't fit as well as it used to because all of the weight that I've gained has gone straight to my butt, which means that I now have a butt, but suits aren't cut for those that have one.

Off to do some Christmas shopping because I've procrastinated and assumed that I'll have more time before Christmas (like time will stop for me or something...) and we're leaving for NC on Wednesday.

DC visit, future home?

Before heading home for Thanksgiving, I headed to DC to see my friend Sara and learn a little bit more about the city that I'm now pretty sure I want to head to when I'm done here in Harrisonburg.  I headed up Saturday morning, met Sara at her house in Arlington and we metroed into the city.  First stop was lunch at Busboys and Poets, a great restaurant near the Convention Center.  Named after Langston Hughes, the restaurant focuses on sustainable and local products, and the food is fabulous!  I did learn however, that almond milk does not work well for lattes or cappuccinos.  From there we walked down to the Newseum and spent the rest of the afternoon there.  They have parts of the Berlin Wall there, they have artifacts from Katrina, they have the top of the antenna from the world trade center, and a great 4-D movie.

The best part is that they have free admission for teachers with their students.  I fully plan to take advantage of that, no matter where I teach.  We could have spent longer, but Sara wanted to head to mass at 5, so we took the metro back to VA and went to mass at her Church.  We grabbed dinner at a Thai restaurant, recouped at Sara's and then drove to the East Capitol District where some of Sara's friends live.  I love that area!  We ended up going to a bar called Kelly's Pub, which was great.  They had live music, a guy who played almost anything you would request.  Two girls sponsored by Smithwicks (pronounced Smit-icks) were handing out free samples, so that upped the consumption more than I had planned on.  I had a great time meeting new people and hanging out.  Sara and I headed back around 11:30 for bed.  The next morning we had brunch nearby with Natalie and Caitlin, also both Thetas.  It was really great to catch up with them!
       On my way back home, with a stop in a VA grocery store for wine requests of the parents (14 bottles), I did a lot of thinking and I'm pretty sure that I want to move to the DC area.  Plus, my ideas about Raleigh were killed when my Grandma informed me over break that NC's budget means that they won't be doing any hiring any time soon.  So my plan of action currently stands at applying to every Middle and High school in the Arlington, Fairfax, Alexandria and DC area.  When I got home I did some internet searching for schools, but if you live in the area, and know of a school, let me know so I can apply there too!  ;o)  Currently I'm considering public, private, independent and charter schools.  I don't know enough about charter or independent schools, but that's something to look into.  I also don't know about teaching in religious schools because I'm not that religious, (thats a work in progress), but I'm sure it's not the same as it was in the 60s.  Thoughts?