LAT

Came up with a new entry for the New Revised Teacher's Dictionary. Today was a LAT day. Now maybe that doesn't mean much for people outside of my district, but inside our little circle, LAT usually stands for Linguistically Accommodated Testing. These are the tests that our newcomer kids take in leiu of the TAKS test.

However, today was LAT day in the sense that it was Long Ass Thursday.

I walked into my room this morning and checked my mini-thermometer (hey, we were studying temperature measurement last week) -- 80 degrees. That just ain't right.

The temp didn't improve much throughout the day, even with the "air conditioning" blowing -- really just moving room temp air around -- and several windows open.

When I picked my kids up from specials class in the afternoon, several of them were in tears because there had been a fight outside, and one of them was even getting suspended! I totally expect one class of 3rd graders to be fighting, because they are just a bunch of idiots and don't care. But I would never have guessed that this suspended girl would have gotten involved, and she claims she WASN'T. Of course, not having been witness, I had no idea what had actually happened, so I wasn't able to say one way or the other.

This being (Long Ass) Thursday, we had after school tutoring, so that was a fun hour.

Afterwards, as I walked out of the school to the parking lot, I noticed that the air seemed really thick and smokey. Turns out there are wild fires raging through North Texas! The air was full of ash and very dense. Guess I won't have to worry about fights outside at recess tomorrow, since I don't think there will BE an outside recess tomorrow.

To top it all off, I came home to find that my DVR had died, taking all of my stored programming with it. Guess I'll have to check out this hulu.com after all...

The New Revised Teacher's Dictionary

Over the past year or so, I've either heard or thought of a few terms that relate to my job as a teacher that don't necessarily apply to people outside of the education field. With that in mind, I thought it might be a good idea to start to jot these words and their definitions down into the beginings of a Webster's-esque tome.





It's not much, but I now present the few words that form the opening salvo of this Teacher's Dictionary. Feel free to add to it any terms that you have heard or thought of yourself!

"Choir practice" -- Code name for after-hours meetings held by some teachers, typically on Fridays, in an establishment where discussions are held, friendships are strengthened, and alcoholic beverages may or may not be consumed. See also TEAM BUILDING, GROUP MENTORING, and GARDENING WITH GRANDMA.

"DJing" -- The very annoying practice of some administrators, when using the school's Public Address system, of droning on and on, as many morning DJs do on the radio. What should be a 30 second announcement turns into a 6 minute beat-down as the speaker feels the need to comment extensively on the short announcement.


"gradecation" -- Taking a day off merely for the purpose of catching up on grading papers. Gradecations are typically NOT fun.

"maximum kiddage" -- The largest amount of students that can fit in a certain area. When planning for pull-out math tutoring, I tried to give each small group maximum kiddage so as to get the most children covered.

"milk carton photo" -- A student who is consistently absent or missing from class. Similar to the "Have you seen me?" photos on the side of a milk carton, but with less calcium enrichment.


"repeat customer" -- A student who has been retained for another year. Some kids just like 3rd grade so much they want another shot at it.


A small beginning, I know. But perhaps in time, this will grow to be worthy of its own internet page. Let the submissions begin!!