Never Eat Soggy Waffles

If you’ve already seen these, then you’re probably on Facebook. I forgot to post them here. I try to take a photo of my classroom at the very end. It’s a closure sort of thing. For those who haven’t been around for long, my classroom is in a portable, which is really just a trailer that’s my classroom (some are two classrooms, but most aren’t).

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I don’t generally like putting people in categories, but part of my class last week was showing different styles of learning/doing/interacting, etc. The point was that people are different and so there will be conflicts in groups. Additionally, people with different learning styles and ways of being learn in different ways and so need different things in a classroom. Of course the same thing holds true for groups of adults (including teachers) trying to work together or interact.

Now, the North, South, East, West one was the last one we did. We did Multiple Intelligences which I’d done before. We also did one with clipboards, microscopes, puppies, and beach balls. I came out to be a microscope, but really that one didn’t resonate with me at all. This one, though, was dead on.

First, the categories:

North: actors, let’s do it attitude, like to act, try things, plunge right in, need to get work DONE NOW! (or as quickly as possible), product-driven, success is getting it done.

South: caring group, like to know that everyone’s feelings have been taken into consideration, that their voices have been heard before acting, need to have all members share their thoughts and be sure everyone is supported, brings snacks, success is all feeling good about the work.

West: detailers, pay attention to the little things, like to know the who, what, when, where, and why before acting, need to get their questions answered before proceeding with the work, always seeking clarification, success is in the details.

East: speculators, like to look at the big picture, the possibilities before acting, need to express their vision of the project, always looking for another way, BIG IDEA PEOPLE, success is in the vision or how it fits.

After we got the handout and read it, we were supposed to go to the spot in the room with the big piece of butcher paper that matched our style. Each group was to write about their strengths, which groups drive them nuts, etc. There were a couple of other things as well.

The teachers laughed because each group totally went about the assignment in keeping with their style. I’m a North, totally. I am NOT into process and remember having many discussions about that in my Syracuse days. As a teacher, the other groups drive me nuts when they’re spending forever on wondering about all these little details and I want them to JUST START THE ASSIGNMENT FOR PETE’S SAKE!

Needless to say, not only did the Norths just start writing and doing the assignment, they didn’t even wait until the whole group was there! The only East finally had to be extremely nudged so that she’d write SOMETHING on the paper! The other two groups followed their pattern as well. The one teacher said that every time she’s done this, including this time, the Norths say that ALL the other groups drive them nuts! Now you know.

Pooped!

Yeah, you wouldn’t think vacation is all that tiring. You’d be wrong, of course! Monday through Thursday I had class. Friday I picked up Dottie early-ish (between 10 and 10:30) and we went to a ritzy little group of shops on our way to Chinese Buffet for lunch. The shops had clothing, jewelry, etc. I saw a nice tee shirt — for $150 and a nice bracelet for $1525 (no, no decimal in that number!). Yeah, it was great to look and to wonder who actually had that much money!

I needed to get some fabric for the strips between blocks that were already to go, so we drove across town to the fabric store to match the scrap I had. I did originally have enough red, but then I put it on my bulletin board in my classroom instead. Oh, well. So we spent plenty of time wandering around Hancock’s and then Kohl’s and then a stop at the bakery before getting Dottie home around 3:30. Then I managed to get a little swimming in!

I got other fabric to try making a strip quilt. This morning I ironed all that (and a shirt, as long as I actually had the ironing board out!).

Today I’ll go over there for a more relaxing day and more swimming. Tonight is the monthly Haven activity which is actually the May activity. It’s something called Laughter Yoga (but it’s not about laughing at me doing yoga, in spite of the gales of laughter that would actually produce!).

The other computer has a picture of Donna’s new boot on it, so when I get to that one I’ll upload the picture. She has a broken toe! That’s one think I’ve never done — broken a bone — which is surprising considering how uncoordinated I am! So, a moment of silence for Donna’s poor foot…

nice to be here

I’m taking a morning class way across town. It is for four days, and tomorrow is the last day. Today I rode down a busier street than I usually care for. More traffic, but it’s a nice straight line. But more traffic means more waiting at lights. So there I am, southbound, waiting for a light to turn green. I’m very far back though — far enough back that by the time I get near the light it has been yellow for quite a while. The guy in front of me wasn’t that far into the intersection when it turned red, and I didn’t even bother. It’s a very large intersection at Speedway and Campbell. I don’t know what the heck the guy behind me was thinking, but it didn’t include stopping. He must’ve floored it at some point, because when he stopped you probably couldn’t get a piece of paper between our bumpers. On the plus side, there was a cop on a motorcycle right next to him, so there was really no reason for him to assume I’d run a light that was dead red and that we’d had no chance to gear up for going through the intersection anyway. Still, it was scary.

I sent an email to the superintendent of schools today. She talks about transparency and being open and full of information, etc. But she cut off the school emails of all the RIF’d people. (They didn’t do that last year.) So the people who are getting all that information are not the people who are most desperately interested in the budget. So I sent her an email asking her how we’re supposed to be informed about this vital information.

I hate my database class and I’m glad it’s the last week. I’ve learned not to turn in my class evaluation until the last minute because something usually happens after it’s too late. What usually happens is that the lack of information gets caught up. Each team was supposed to have to separate diagrams of use case and something else. Like I understand any of this? Did she say that this was two separate diagrams? So Octavio did the work while I tried to get more information and I thought we had it all. I was going to do the narrative until I found out there was none. The rest of the group — Jack, Akeem, and Corey did nothing. At all. Jack has only contributed once I think. Nothing for weeks four and five. Akeem and Corey didn’t post in our private forum at all this week. So the two of us were responsible for the entire project, Octavio is mad at me, and I can’t wait until this class ends Monday and I can move on to the next one!

Hello!

Yeah, it’s been a week or so since I’ve posted, and I can’t blame school since my teaching part is done! I’ll blame something else as soon as I think of something!

This week I’m taking a course for four days that should help improve student participation and attention, and therefore achievement. Some of what they talked about is stuff that is mandatory at my school, such as posting and talking about objectives, the I Do-We Do-You Do format for lesson plans, etc. It was a lot of fun, and not an excess of just sitting there.

It was hard to figure out where the class was, though. At one point it was supposed to be at a school near me. Well of course, that’s too good to be true! So they moved it to about as far away as you can get and still be in Tucson.

In the meantime, my first week of summer vacation (last week) was spent reading and hanging out. Well, except Friday. Friday was spent hanging out at PEP Boys. My car was leaking radiator fluid, so I went there Friday morning and got there a couple minutes before 9. Early is good — they actually take care of you right away. In theory. I left at 1:30, and in the meantime my guy also installed four new tires on another vehicle and did something else with someone else’s car as well.

Anyway, they found out that the hose was leaking, but then they didn’t have the right replacement hose. They called around and discovered they could order one from a dealer, and it would arrive in a week! Plus it would cost $200, just for the hose! So we bought time instead by taping the thing. My car is very happy now. No more overheating. It’s especially nice to have the coolant work when it’s over a hundred degrees!

I also went to my father’s on Friday and Saturday, and of course went swimming. When the air is that warm, the hot tub doesn’t actually feel all that hot!

My father has been working on a project, and wanted to pull out the photos of the six boys from his 8th grade class photo (see above). I did a great job with cut and paste after scanning the original! I put it into a document with a title on the top, which worked out nicely. It was a nice little project.

Tomorrow starts Week 6 of my Database class for the U of Phoenix. Really, I can’t wait for this one to finish! Only one other person on the team is pulling his share of the load, and one guy totally abdicated. Group work is one of the seven circles of hell. Honest.