Shot of Buffy and Tara sitting on the sofa next to each other. They look at each other, then away.Rest in peace, grandma.
BUFFY: (softly, speaking to the floor) I'm sorry...you have to go through all of this.
TARA: You don't have to worry about me.
BUFFY: Everybody wants to help. (Tara looks at her) I don't even know if I'm...here. (Tara looks away) I don't know what's going on. Never done this. (pauses) That's just an amazingly dumb thing to say. Obviously...I've never done this before.
Beat.
TARA: (softly) I have.
Buffy looks over at her.
TARA: My mother died when I was seventeen.
(cut some stuff)
Buffy looks back up at Tara.
BUFFY: Was it sudden?
TARA: What?
BUFFY: Your mother.
TARA: No. (thinks) And…yes. (pauses) It's always sudden.
Thursday, February 10, 2005
1:30 A.M.
From the now-defunct studiesinwords.de.
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Maturity
So, I'm driving Patrick back to the house after visiting grandma last night. My mom stayed there because grandpa was really freaked out (it's looking like it'll be sometime this week), so I took Patrick to dinner. He was really upset, saying he didn't want grandma to "go" -- she had been talking about how she was ready before she went to sleep.
We drove through McDonald's, and as we were turning up towards the house, out of the blue, he says, "Grandma was right."
"About what?" I asked. There's a strange resignation in his tone.
"I don't like seeing her like this. She should go." Now, he's sad and choked up when he says it, but he's utterly serious. He doesn't want her to suffer, and he is ready to let her go so that she doesn't have to.
This is my brother, ladies and gentlemen. Disabilities or not, let no one say he doesn't understand what's really important in life.
We drove through McDonald's, and as we were turning up towards the house, out of the blue, he says, "Grandma was right."
"About what?" I asked. There's a strange resignation in his tone.
"I don't like seeing her like this. She should go." Now, he's sad and choked up when he says it, but he's utterly serious. He doesn't want her to suffer, and he is ready to let her go so that she doesn't have to.
This is my brother, ladies and gentlemen. Disabilities or not, let no one say he doesn't understand what's really important in life.
Monday, February 07, 2005
I Could Put a Cheesy 80s Song Quote Here
But, then, Leo already did that last week. :-)
So, today went pretty well -- which, if we go by last week's mood-swinginess, means tomorrow will be crazy, crazy, crazy....
Tomorrow, by the way, I have A.'s triennial, which I just finished writing. I always like how I think I have no goals planned, and then I just start writing them and don't stop.
As of a few hours ago, my grandpa was awaiting the arrival of a hospital bed at home, then grandma will be transferred home for hospice care. Supposedly, some doctor says it might be a week or less, but then, I remember several times when it was a matter of a day or two for my great-grandma, so I figure we'll just wait and see.
But (like I haven't said this enough), never, ever smoke.
If you've started, chew five pieces of the gum an hour if you have to, but quit.
Emphysema is not fun.
It's especially not fun if all your other faculties are in order, and you know exactly how miserable you are.
So, today went pretty well -- which, if we go by last week's mood-swinginess, means tomorrow will be crazy, crazy, crazy....
Tomorrow, by the way, I have A.'s triennial, which I just finished writing. I always like how I think I have no goals planned, and then I just start writing them and don't stop.
As of a few hours ago, my grandpa was awaiting the arrival of a hospital bed at home, then grandma will be transferred home for hospice care. Supposedly, some doctor says it might be a week or less, but then, I remember several times when it was a matter of a day or two for my great-grandma, so I figure we'll just wait and see.
But (like I haven't said this enough), never, ever smoke.
If you've started, chew five pieces of the gum an hour if you have to, but quit.
Emphysema is not fun.
It's especially not fun if all your other faculties are in order, and you know exactly how miserable you are.
Sunday, February 06, 2005
Update
First, let me say...the Cowboy Combo at Applebees is very yummy. Had that for dinner last night.
New developments for the day:
Happy Sunday.
New developments for the day:
- my aunt is visiting from New Mexico. I hope she came up with a good excuse, or grandma might think things are really, really dire. But my family is not known for its emotional prowess, particularly that branch of it, so I bet they just let it slide.
- my mother got one of her funny heartbeats, so we just hung out at our respective places today.
- there is nothing on TV, and I am left watching The Santa Clause 2 on Starz-Whatever-It-Is.
- I really don't want it to be Monday already, but have little choice in the matter.
Happy Sunday.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Statistics
So far, thanks to my mother sacrificing all reason and purchasing a Diet Pepsi because it was the only non-Mountain Dew Pepsi product 7-11 had that had iTunes caps, I have, in fact, won 1 song out of 3 purchases.
I don't expect the trend to continue, based on my winnings last year, but you never know. Oddly enough, I wish the hourly prize was an iPod Shuffle (which I want as much for the thumb-drive-ness as the music player part) rather than an iPod Mini, which I don't really need, seeing as how I've got my nice 40G iPod already....
I suppose I could always ebay it, but since I won't actually win one anyway, this is a moot point. ;-)
I don't expect the trend to continue, based on my winnings last year, but you never know. Oddly enough, I wish the hourly prize was an iPod Shuffle (which I want as much for the thumb-drive-ness as the music player part) rather than an iPod Mini, which I don't really need, seeing as how I've got my nice 40G iPod already....
I suppose I could always ebay it, but since I won't actually win one anyway, this is a moot point. ;-)
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Impulsiveness
Ever wanted a textbook definition of what "impulsiveness" (a word common to those who have ADD/ADHD)?
Next time you are at work and just want to scream, and a little voice says, "you'll be fired if you do that." Imagine not having that voice.
Next time you walk past a fire alarm pull and have brief thoughts of testing it, and a little voice says, "are you nuts?" Imagine not having that voice.
Next time you want to run out to your car in your bare feet and a little voice reminds you, "hey, the asphalt will hurt!" Imagine not having that voice.
I'm really, really glad I have that voice...I don't like stupid questions.
Brought to you from randomness central...'cause I've already forgotten what I was going to write anyway.
Next time you are at work and just want to scream, and a little voice says, "you'll be fired if you do that." Imagine not having that voice.
Next time you walk past a fire alarm pull and have brief thoughts of testing it, and a little voice says, "are you nuts?" Imagine not having that voice.
Next time you want to run out to your car in your bare feet and a little voice reminds you, "hey, the asphalt will hurt!" Imagine not having that voice.
I'm really, really glad I have that voice...I don't like stupid questions.
Brought to you from randomness central...'cause I've already forgotten what I was going to write anyway.
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Same Old, Same Old
Isn't it scary when drama becomes the norm?
We had aides out all over the place, people subbing in classes they didn't know, thus messing up their break/lunch schedules (maybe I was spoiled at CHIME, but...you know...working there -- if there was no one to cover a class, no one would dream of taking a lunch, even if it was scheduled...sometimes kids' needs come first), kids going nutty 'cause of the rain, Patrick making dinner, and going to the hospital.
All of this feels normal.
Or, I think it might be just that I'm past the point of exhaustion and am running on cruise control.
I need a mental health weekend....
I'll be less POK-mobiley tomorrow, I promise....
We had aides out all over the place, people subbing in classes they didn't know, thus messing up their break/lunch schedules (maybe I was spoiled at CHIME, but...you know...working there -- if there was no one to cover a class, no one would dream of taking a lunch, even if it was scheduled...sometimes kids' needs come first), kids going nutty 'cause of the rain, Patrick making dinner, and going to the hospital.
All of this feels normal.
Or, I think it might be just that I'm past the point of exhaustion and am running on cruise control.
I need a mental health weekend....
I'll be less POK-mobiley tomorrow, I promise....
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Columbia
No explorer ever set off into the unknown because it was safe, but it's still sad when people pay the price for expanding our knowledge...
2 years since Columbia; 17 years since Challenger; 38 since Apollo 1.
But we've also set up a permanently habited space station, landed on asteroids and other planets, and set foot on a surface not tied on the Earth.
And, someday, I'm sure, we'll build other Columbias, and other Challengers. I think it would be fitting if our next-generation shuttle fleet had one of each. And a Grissom ("D'oh!" she says as she realizes where that name came from...), a Chaffee, a White, a McAuliffe, and so on and so forth.
Memorial (words: Misty Lackey, music: "Ballad of Springhill")
When you sing of Columbia or the Eagle
And reach for the stars as your ultimate goal.
Recall who fell along the way,
For the star-road takes a fearful toll,
The star-road takes a fearful toll.
And it might have been Armstrong, Aldrin, Cernan,
Shepard, Carpenter, Cooper, or Glenn.
They all knew well the questor's fee,
And the star-road's paved with the lives of men,
The star-road's paved with the lives of men.
For the price was paid on a winter evening
When "Fire in the spacecraft!" somebody said.
In smoke and flame the shadow passed
And in Capsule Twelve three men were dead,
In Capsule Twelve three men were dead.
Forget not yet who paid the forfeit
To conquer the stars in the Eagle's flight.
"It's worth the price." they said who paid:
Grissom, Chaffee, and Edward White.
Grissom, Chaffee, and Edward White.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To the men of Apollo 1....
January 1967
2 years since Columbia; 17 years since Challenger; 38 since Apollo 1.
But we've also set up a permanently habited space station, landed on asteroids and other planets, and set foot on a surface not tied on the Earth.
And, someday, I'm sure, we'll build other Columbias, and other Challengers. I think it would be fitting if our next-generation shuttle fleet had one of each. And a Grissom ("D'oh!" she says as she realizes where that name came from...), a Chaffee, a White, a McAuliffe, and so on and so forth.
Monday, January 31, 2005
Priorities
I wonder if it's only in California that the Michael Jackson case, complete with commentary from OJ prosecutor Marcia Clarke, made up the 2 top stories on the news, before news about the Iraqi election?
I meant to post about this yesterday, when the weird priorities were even more apparent since it was actually election day, but I forgot.
BTW, though, I can actually say I've driven through Santa Maria, and even been in the mall there, and it's really funny to hear people talk about it as though it's in the middle of rural Arkansas. :-)
I meant to post about this yesterday, when the weird priorities were even more apparent since it was actually election day, but I forgot.
BTW, though, I can actually say I've driven through Santa Maria, and even been in the mall there, and it's really funny to hear people talk about it as though it's in the middle of rural Arkansas. :-)
What is Adult?
So, while being home with what appears to be a 24-hour stomach flu, I was reading Ron Moore's blog at the Sci-Fi channel's website. Amidst some interesting Q&A, he addresses the question of sexuality on the show.
He makes a good point.
Let me preface this. One of the questions involved is a fan who is upset that they can't watch with their young children because of the sexuality.
Ron Moore's response is that BSG is an adult's show. It's not meant for young kids to watch. He doesn't let his young kids watch.
To be more accurate, it is, at least, TV PG. Like most sci-fi, especially apocalyptic sci-fi, there are battles. Like her male predecessor on the original BSG, Starbuck is...well, of the randy sort.
(Really, in a situation like that, I would expect many people to go a little carnally crazy, so to speak -- certainly, to be overcome with fatalism and chuck society's rules out the window...with the "what does it really matter" point of view intact as well. Really...what chances for survival do they really have? And what would you do if you suspected you wouldn't survive the next year? But that's beside the point -- and, besides, I'm not a sci-fi anthropologist.)
He also makes an even better point.
Why on Earth, except through the weirdness of America's puritanical culture that thinks nothing of showing exploding car bombs on the 4:00 news but fines people for brief wardrobe malfunctions during the SuperBowl halftime show (not known as a bastion of high-class entertainment, anyway), would we be more concerned about Baltar gets it on with the Hot Bad Girl (TM) than about the complete (save 150,000 or so survivors in the caravan) destruction of 12 freaking planets of people?
Full-on, billions-killed genocide.
On TV.
Mushroom clouds, shooting, and "much dying."
And we get bent out of shape 'cause of the sex.
Why?
Or, more to the point, what makes one more inherently bad -- or, inappropriate for younger viewers -- than another?
It's like the people that took their kids to see The Passion of the Christ...many of whom also stridently protested Janet Jackson's...eh...issues.
Why?
Now, don't go getting all religious on me. Understanding Jesus' sacrifice and all that.
Possibly a bad example...though I certainly don't recall learning how horrible, exactly, a death crucifixion was during my first grade religion class. We were taught it was Bad. It hurt A Lot. It wasn't until 6th grade or so that we went into some details...suffocation, and the like. It wasn't until high school, at least, that we learned some of the gory details...so I still don't necessarily buy it that very young children needed to -- or even should have been -- exposed to that.
Not to mention the fact that the whole thing is subtitled, and the poor little guys probably couldn't keep up with half of what was going on.
But I digress....
To get back on topic, and way from religion, here, the same could be said of The Lord of the Rings. Why is it okay to see Boromir riddled with bullets, Frodo's finger bitten off, thousands of people die during both the battles of Helms Deep and Minas Tirith, and so forth?
There were tons of little kids when I saw both The Two Towers and Return of the King in theaters (I didn't see FOTR in the theaters 'cause I didn't think I'd like it)...not so much at the special screenings of the Extended Editions at the Cineramadome, but anyway....
Would the same people have taken their kids if we'd seen Arwen and Aragorn do it? If we'd seen Rosie and Sam go at it? If we'd seen Faramir and Eowyn consummate their marriage?
All of this happened, though not explicitly, in the books. Arwen and Aragorn have children, after all, as do Sam and Rosie. I'm not certain about Faramir and Eowyn, but they do marry, and one would imagine they weren't celibate.
I think it just points out exactly the duality Ron Moore talks about. BSG gets flack for sexuality but not for genocide. In either case, it's not something for little kids. Most sci-fi isn't, really.
That said, I watched sci-fi from the time I was very young...but that was the original Star Trek, which isn't quite the same.
Imzadi, by Peter David, (who has a great blog, by the way) depicts sexual acts (the phrase "impressions that would puzzle future geologists" still makes me giggle), and I read that when it first came out.
I was, probably, about 12.
Did it scar me? Well, no.
Would it scar another kid? Who knows? But that's up to the parents.
It always comes down to that, doesn't it? If you think your kid can handle the sexual images (or, you know, the genocide), go for it. If you don't...record it...TiVo it...whatever...and save it until your sci-fi-ally inclined child is ready for it.
Parental responsibility...what a concept.
He makes a good point.
Let me preface this. One of the questions involved is a fan who is upset that they can't watch with their young children because of the sexuality.
Ron Moore's response is that BSG is an adult's show. It's not meant for young kids to watch. He doesn't let his young kids watch.
To be more accurate, it is, at least, TV PG. Like most sci-fi, especially apocalyptic sci-fi, there are battles. Like her male predecessor on the original BSG, Starbuck is...well, of the randy sort.
(Really, in a situation like that, I would expect many people to go a little carnally crazy, so to speak -- certainly, to be overcome with fatalism and chuck society's rules out the window...with the "what does it really matter" point of view intact as well. Really...what chances for survival do they really have? And what would you do if you suspected you wouldn't survive the next year? But that's beside the point -- and, besides, I'm not a sci-fi anthropologist.)
He also makes an even better point.
Why on Earth, except through the weirdness of America's puritanical culture that thinks nothing of showing exploding car bombs on the 4:00 news but fines people for brief wardrobe malfunctions during the SuperBowl halftime show (not known as a bastion of high-class entertainment, anyway), would we be more concerned about Baltar gets it on with the Hot Bad Girl (TM) than about the complete (save 150,000 or so survivors in the caravan) destruction of 12 freaking planets of people?
Full-on, billions-killed genocide.
On TV.
Mushroom clouds, shooting, and "much dying."
And we get bent out of shape 'cause of the sex.
Why?
Or, more to the point, what makes one more inherently bad -- or, inappropriate for younger viewers -- than another?
It's like the people that took their kids to see The Passion of the Christ...many of whom also stridently protested Janet Jackson's...eh...issues.
Why?
Now, don't go getting all religious on me. Understanding Jesus' sacrifice and all that.
Possibly a bad example...though I certainly don't recall learning how horrible, exactly, a death crucifixion was during my first grade religion class. We were taught it was Bad. It hurt A Lot. It wasn't until 6th grade or so that we went into some details...suffocation, and the like. It wasn't until high school, at least, that we learned some of the gory details...so I still don't necessarily buy it that very young children needed to -- or even should have been -- exposed to that.
Not to mention the fact that the whole thing is subtitled, and the poor little guys probably couldn't keep up with half of what was going on.
But I digress....
To get back on topic, and way from religion, here, the same could be said of The Lord of the Rings. Why is it okay to see Boromir riddled with bullets, Frodo's finger bitten off, thousands of people die during both the battles of Helms Deep and Minas Tirith, and so forth?
There were tons of little kids when I saw both The Two Towers and Return of the King in theaters (I didn't see FOTR in the theaters 'cause I didn't think I'd like it)...not so much at the special screenings of the Extended Editions at the Cineramadome, but anyway....
Would the same people have taken their kids if we'd seen Arwen and Aragorn do it? If we'd seen Rosie and Sam go at it? If we'd seen Faramir and Eowyn consummate their marriage?
All of this happened, though not explicitly, in the books. Arwen and Aragorn have children, after all, as do Sam and Rosie. I'm not certain about Faramir and Eowyn, but they do marry, and one would imagine they weren't celibate.
I think it just points out exactly the duality Ron Moore talks about. BSG gets flack for sexuality but not for genocide. In either case, it's not something for little kids. Most sci-fi isn't, really.
That said, I watched sci-fi from the time I was very young...but that was the original Star Trek, which isn't quite the same.
Imzadi, by Peter David, (who has a great blog, by the way) depicts sexual acts (the phrase "impressions that would puzzle future geologists" still makes me giggle), and I read that when it first came out.
I was, probably, about 12.
Did it scar me? Well, no.
Would it scar another kid? Who knows? But that's up to the parents.
It always comes down to that, doesn't it? If you think your kid can handle the sexual images (or, you know, the genocide), go for it. If you don't...record it...TiVo it...whatever...and save it until your sci-fi-ally inclined child is ready for it.
Parental responsibility...what a concept.
Sunday, January 30, 2005
I Love Google
Or, more specifically, images.google.com -- without which, I couldn't have had "Mayflower" as a classroom vocabulary word for this week for my 6th graders, who are learning US History. :-)
Didn't get as much done as I wanted to today, and tomorrow starts another week...but maybe I'll at least get to watch "Act of Contrition" tonight before I go to bed...I know it's a cliffhanger, but I kinda know what happens anyway, thanks to tvtome.com, so I'll probably watch it...and then spend all week waiting for Friday, but oh well.
Grandma seemed a bit better today, but they have to keep her slightly sedated to keep her heart pumping at a reasonable level. See, you don't so much die from emphysema, as from complications of emphysema -- rather like diabetes. It's not that it keeps destroying your lung tissue until literally none is left (although, I suppose, that could happen if you never checked into a hospital where they could keep you from smoking) -- it's that your heart has to work so much harder to pump oxygenated blood to your body...or, that your organs start to suffer from lack of oxygen.
In some ways, it's a mixed blessing, but so far, grandma's heart has seemed okay...it's handled upwards of 160 beats a minute without...well, skipping a beat, if you'll pardon the pun. On the sedatives, it's about 110, so...we'll see.
You never know, really...I learned that with my dad and my grandpa. My cousin Jason is getting married in May, though, so hopefully that'll give her something to stick around for.
Ironically, people were wondering if she'd make it to my cousin's bar mitzvah in 2001...and then to my other cousin's bat mitzvah in 2003...so, like I said, who knows, right?
Didn't get as much done as I wanted to today, and tomorrow starts another week...but maybe I'll at least get to watch "Act of Contrition" tonight before I go to bed...I know it's a cliffhanger, but I kinda know what happens anyway, thanks to tvtome.com, so I'll probably watch it...and then spend all week waiting for Friday, but oh well.
Grandma seemed a bit better today, but they have to keep her slightly sedated to keep her heart pumping at a reasonable level. See, you don't so much die from emphysema, as from complications of emphysema -- rather like diabetes. It's not that it keeps destroying your lung tissue until literally none is left (although, I suppose, that could happen if you never checked into a hospital where they could keep you from smoking) -- it's that your heart has to work so much harder to pump oxygenated blood to your body...or, that your organs start to suffer from lack of oxygen.
In some ways, it's a mixed blessing, but so far, grandma's heart has seemed okay...it's handled upwards of 160 beats a minute without...well, skipping a beat, if you'll pardon the pun. On the sedatives, it's about 110, so...we'll see.
You never know, really...I learned that with my dad and my grandpa. My cousin Jason is getting married in May, though, so hopefully that'll give her something to stick around for.
Ironically, people were wondering if she'd make it to my cousin's bar mitzvah in 2001...and then to my other cousin's bat mitzvah in 2003...so, like I said, who knows, right?
Saturday, January 29, 2005
Stuff
Well, it's been quite a week.
Or two.
Don't remember the last time I posted.
A hearty welcome to the exhausting world of teaching to iluvpchem! :-)
Things have been crazy as usual.
We had staff development days Thursday and Friday, but the beginning of the week was very long and very stressful. It was "pick on Jennifer" week for some unknown reason, which is Not Fun ordinarily, but even less fun when my grandma's back in the hospital. Emphysema is not fun.
I have a couple of IEPs coming up this month, but they shouldn't be too bad. I'm not at all sure what goals to write, but I'm usually not until I sit down to actually write it. That is, I'm not consciously aware of what goals I want to write -- but generally, they flow pretty well once I actually get down to the business of it.
I think this weekend's going to be pretty boring. I thought I might have to go into school to work, but I got finished after all, which is nice. We'll see how this week goes. :-)
Or two.
Don't remember the last time I posted.
A hearty welcome to the exhausting world of teaching to iluvpchem! :-)
Things have been crazy as usual.
We had staff development days Thursday and Friday, but the beginning of the week was very long and very stressful. It was "pick on Jennifer" week for some unknown reason, which is Not Fun ordinarily, but even less fun when my grandma's back in the hospital. Emphysema is not fun.
I have a couple of IEPs coming up this month, but they shouldn't be too bad. I'm not at all sure what goals to write, but I'm usually not until I sit down to actually write it. That is, I'm not consciously aware of what goals I want to write -- but generally, they flow pretty well once I actually get down to the business of it.
I think this weekend's going to be pretty boring. I thought I might have to go into school to work, but I got finished after all, which is nice. We'll see how this week goes. :-)
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Working Hard
Whew, what a week!
It feels like I say that a lot this year, but the makeup of my class is something else....
Most teachers are sympathetic, if a little bewildered, when they see us looking shell-shocked and a little bedraggled by the end of the day, but today, for the first time, I got a response I didn't expect.
It was lunch time...and I was talking with the 5th/6th and 4th/5th teachers. The 5/6 teacher has been there many years, and has been very welcoming of having kids in her class, though she's not quite sure of the benefits for kids with more severe disabilities. The other had, apparently, never attended an IEP as the general education representative for any kids other than resource kids before.
So, the latter made some comment about working hard and being tired, and I, jokingly, said that we could switch classes.
And I got a response I've never gotten before.
The response was something to the effect that it would probably be easier, because of the "standards" or something.
This perspective really irks me, and although I've suspected it in others, it was the first time I'd heard it voiced.
Some people think that because I teach basic, functional academics, that it must, by definition, be easier and less work to teach my kiddos.
Now, don't get me wrong, I love each and every one of them (though A. can crawl up my last nerve and R. will make me go gray), but they are a lot of work. We -- and they -- work long and hard to make them understand concepts that her students mastered years before. I have 2 sixth graders who are learning to match colors and to recognize their names by sight. And they struggle with that just as much as her kids struggle with subtracting fractions.
The other thing it could be is the fact that I always have 2 or more aides in the class.
Well, each and every pair of eyes is sorely needed. Even with all those adults in the room, E. has colored on virtually every vertical surface imaginable and pulled out nearly half of our venetian blinds. A. one day called the office 15 times -- and we stopped her 10 to 20 times for each time she got through. R. knocks stuff down and throws his shoes across the room at least 10 times a day, when he's not directly observed by an adult. S., though he very rarely does it anymore, hits himself until he bleeds if he's upset about something. R. and J., if left to their own devices, would rather sit and stare off into space than work. ...and so forth.
The truth of the matter is that even with all these adults -- we have no down time.
Ever.
We can't sit while the kids have silent reading.
We can't correct papers while the kids take a test.
I love every moment of it, but it's a very, very difficult, very draining job.
And, I have to say, I resent a bit the implication that my job is any easier than hers is.
Just had to get that off my chest.
It feels like I say that a lot this year, but the makeup of my class is something else....
Most teachers are sympathetic, if a little bewildered, when they see us looking shell-shocked and a little bedraggled by the end of the day, but today, for the first time, I got a response I didn't expect.
It was lunch time...and I was talking with the 5th/6th and 4th/5th teachers. The 5/6 teacher has been there many years, and has been very welcoming of having kids in her class, though she's not quite sure of the benefits for kids with more severe disabilities. The other had, apparently, never attended an IEP as the general education representative for any kids other than resource kids before.
So, the latter made some comment about working hard and being tired, and I, jokingly, said that we could switch classes.
And I got a response I've never gotten before.
The response was something to the effect that it would probably be easier, because of the "standards" or something.
This perspective really irks me, and although I've suspected it in others, it was the first time I'd heard it voiced.
Some people think that because I teach basic, functional academics, that it must, by definition, be easier and less work to teach my kiddos.
Now, don't get me wrong, I love each and every one of them (though A. can crawl up my last nerve and R. will make me go gray), but they are a lot of work. We -- and they -- work long and hard to make them understand concepts that her students mastered years before. I have 2 sixth graders who are learning to match colors and to recognize their names by sight. And they struggle with that just as much as her kids struggle with subtracting fractions.
The other thing it could be is the fact that I always have 2 or more aides in the class.
Well, each and every pair of eyes is sorely needed. Even with all those adults in the room, E. has colored on virtually every vertical surface imaginable and pulled out nearly half of our venetian blinds. A. one day called the office 15 times -- and we stopped her 10 to 20 times for each time she got through. R. knocks stuff down and throws his shoes across the room at least 10 times a day, when he's not directly observed by an adult. S., though he very rarely does it anymore, hits himself until he bleeds if he's upset about something. R. and J., if left to their own devices, would rather sit and stare off into space than work. ...and so forth.
The truth of the matter is that even with all these adults -- we have no down time.
Ever.
We can't sit while the kids have silent reading.
We can't correct papers while the kids take a test.
I love every moment of it, but it's a very, very difficult, very draining job.
And, I have to say, I resent a bit the implication that my job is any easier than hers is.
Just had to get that off my chest.
Monday, January 17, 2005
Dang
Well, that's another post that got eaten. Huh.
Anyhow, good, but paradoxically short weekend. I sudenly have no motivation tonight, though, even though I'm typically awake on weeknights until at least 11:30.
I finished Time's Eye, by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter, incidentally. I tend to disagree with the reviewers who say that its plot was a digression -- after all, a good chunk of 2001 was a digression as HAL went nutty on the ship...it wasn't until the end (like in Time's Eye, which is supposed to be a companion series of odysseys through time instead of space) that they started working again on the mysteries of the Monolith.
I really liked it, to be honest. I'm anxious for the second one to be released, as a matter of fact. All of the Space Odyssey books were published by the time I read them, so having to wait for the second Time Odyssey book is not fun.
Oh -- and I finally read H.G. Wells's The Time Machine, since I enjoyed its sequel The Timeships so much (I talked about it in an earlier post). So, I'm rereading The Timeships now that I know more of what's going on. Granted, Weena and the Morlocks are only an ancillary part of the plot of The Timeships, but it helps to have the backstory.
So, maybe I'll just go to bed.... Happy (almost) Tuesday.
Anyhow, good, but paradoxically short weekend. I sudenly have no motivation tonight, though, even though I'm typically awake on weeknights until at least 11:30.
I finished Time's Eye, by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter, incidentally. I tend to disagree with the reviewers who say that its plot was a digression -- after all, a good chunk of 2001 was a digression as HAL went nutty on the ship...it wasn't until the end (like in Time's Eye, which is supposed to be a companion series of odysseys through time instead of space) that they started working again on the mysteries of the Monolith.
I really liked it, to be honest. I'm anxious for the second one to be released, as a matter of fact. All of the Space Odyssey books were published by the time I read them, so having to wait for the second Time Odyssey book is not fun.
Oh -- and I finally read H.G. Wells's The Time Machine, since I enjoyed its sequel The Timeships so much (I talked about it in an earlier post). So, I'm rereading The Timeships now that I know more of what's going on. Granted, Weena and the Morlocks are only an ancillary part of the plot of The Timeships, but it helps to have the backstory.
So, maybe I'll just go to bed.... Happy (almost) Tuesday.
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Nitpick
There's no such thing as "another words."
You mean in other words.
As in, "I'm putting this comment into other, different words.
Don't know why that bugs me so much, but it does.
A random comment, though -- I think Gary Graham is finally figuring out how to play a Vulcan. Well, either that, or the Enterprise folks are finally figuring out how to write Vulcans.
Oh, and, see? I knew there was a reason I like Good Eats -- it's officially a nerd show if Wired covers it. :-)
You mean in other words.
As in, "I'm putting this comment into other, different words.
Don't know why that bugs me so much, but it does.
A random comment, though -- I think Gary Graham is finally figuring out how to play a Vulcan. Well, either that, or the Enterprise folks are finally figuring out how to write Vulcans.
Oh, and, see? I knew there was a reason I like Good Eats -- it's officially a nerd show if Wired covers it. :-)
It's Orange
So, Titan has a methane sea complete with mists and islands.
Cool.
How about some methane-breathing fish?
Seriously, I always thought that it was, at best, shortsighted, if not outright arrogant, to assume that life must only exist on earthlike planets. Just because we evolved breathing oxygen doesn't mean another ecology might not have produced organisms that breathe in methane gas and breathe out ethane, or something.
Or, as Jeff Goldblum's character said in Jurassic Park, "Life finds a way."
Cool.
How about some methane-breathing fish?
Seriously, I always thought that it was, at best, shortsighted, if not outright arrogant, to assume that life must only exist on earthlike planets. Just because we evolved breathing oxygen doesn't mean another ecology might not have produced organisms that breathe in methane gas and breathe out ethane, or something.
Or, as Jeff Goldblum's character said in Jurassic Park, "Life finds a way."
Friday, January 14, 2005
Battlestar Galactica
I'm not certain the Battlestar Galactica miniseries on Sci Fi was necessarily better than the original, as some reviews said -- after all, it was a different time, and a different focus, with different production values and different aims in telling the story -- but it was quite good.
I don't think you can necessarily compare the two, actually, for just those reasons. They were telling sort of the same story, set in sort of the same universe, but they took those familiar beginnings and went another way with them.
I suppose I should clarify that -- I tend to prefer remakes where they do that. Patrick was really into the remake of The Parent Trap a few years ago, with Lindsay Lohan before she was all famous and, you know, singing, like the rest of the teenyboppers, and that was exactly what I liked about it. It's one thing to take the old script and refilm it...it's entirely another to tell a similar story with the same base premise.
Anyway, I just finished watching the first episode of the actual series, "33," and I have to say -- it was very well done. I especially like the way they film it...I don't know the official term, but it seems raw...kind of gritty. The space battles especially (I noticed this in the miniseries too) are intentionally jerky, as though we're seeing through the lens of a newscamera as they struggle to keep up wtih unpredictable action. I think it adds a lot to the tone of the overall series. Whether they keep up with that, of course, remains to be seen.
However, I must say, I don't think humans can actually reasonably go that long without sleep without starting to hallucinate and do other bad things. 131 hours is something like 6 days or so, right? Yow....
I don't think you can necessarily compare the two, actually, for just those reasons. They were telling sort of the same story, set in sort of the same universe, but they took those familiar beginnings and went another way with them.
I suppose I should clarify that -- I tend to prefer remakes where they do that. Patrick was really into the remake of The Parent Trap a few years ago, with Lindsay Lohan before she was all famous and, you know, singing, like the rest of the teenyboppers, and that was exactly what I liked about it. It's one thing to take the old script and refilm it...it's entirely another to tell a similar story with the same base premise.
Anyway, I just finished watching the first episode of the actual series, "33," and I have to say -- it was very well done. I especially like the way they film it...I don't know the official term, but it seems raw...kind of gritty. The space battles especially (I noticed this in the miniseries too) are intentionally jerky, as though we're seeing through the lens of a newscamera as they struggle to keep up wtih unpredictable action. I think it adds a lot to the tone of the overall series. Whether they keep up with that, of course, remains to be seen.
However, I must say, I don't think humans can actually reasonably go that long without sleep without starting to hallucinate and do other bad things. 131 hours is something like 6 days or so, right? Yow....
Cool!
Boy, first Spirit and Opportunity live 9 months longer than expected, then a probe lands on Titan. Is this a good year for space nerds or what? :-)
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