I got the blues... the end of Spring Break blues...

Ho hum, it's that depressing time of year. The end of Spring Break. Yuck. It's been so nice to have time off to get stuff done, stay up late (check the time code on this post), sleep in late, watch basketball all day long (even if your team DOES majorly choke on the national stage), and generally be a lazy bum.

Last weekend, I was highly productive. I painted the baby's room (twice, since I didn't like the original color!), mowed the yard, and did some cleaning around the house. Earlier in the week, I graded tests, rated TELPAS writing samples, and did some lesson plans. Then the tournament began, and I was pretty much a lump on the couch for a couple of days.

Attended a wedding this evening, and my wife and I have a "Baby basics" class to attend tomorrow afternoon.

And then suddenly, it will be time to go to bed early for classes the next morning! Yikes!!

Anybody else got some Spring Break stories to share? Feel free in the comments section!

Time to make the donuts...

I SO understand how that Dunkin' Donuts Drone felt for all those years... :)

Tomorrow, we have to go back to school. It's an in-service day, so we will be listening to our peers, talking about articles on education, etc. Of course, since the custodians were already moving everything from my room out into the hallway to clean the floor at 3:02 on 12/18, I think it would be really nice to have some time to put everything back the way I want it to be. But there will be very little time for that tomorrow. Tomorrow is a meeting day, whereas January 19th will be the teacher prep day. That doesn't make a lot of sense, but that is the time that the 3rd 6-weeks grading period actually ends, so that's where the teacher prep day falls.

Thankfully, it has been a super fantastic Christmas Break. It has seemed really long, I feel relaxed -- of course, my sleep cycle is, as always, screwed up after spending two weeks staying up past midnight and then sleeping past 11. I got grading and paperwork done, but I also plenty of opportunity to be a lazy bum. My fiance and I got a lot of stuff done in regards to wedding planning.

So overall, I'm happy with the break. Now my wish is that my kids come back to school ready and willing to work hard and learn much.

I also wish that we didn't have to report until 11AM tomorrow morning, just to ease back into things...

And it begins anew

Today was our first day back to school after a nice long refreshing summer vacation. No kids yet -- well, except for one of my kids from last year who stopped by, I guess to be told that he would be repeating 3rd grade -- but a full day of staff development.

A few highlights:

We were forced to endure the district sexual harrassment video yet again. This thing is at the same time, poignant and repugnant. I feel like each campus should just cast it and re-film it with their own staff and it would be a lot more fun.

We were informed that our presence would be required on Thursday evening for an open house. 4 - 6, we will be in our rooms for parents to come up and meet. Nothing like short notice...

Yours truly got busted (sort of) during an intervention presentation. One of our counselors was talking about each teacher having a spiral notebook to log all of the interventions throughout the year. She made the comment that this spiral would be our best friend. I leaned over to the teacher next to me and whispered, "So should I put out a Facebook friend request to my spiral?" As we were giggling, the counselor noticed and said, "Oh, if there are any questions, we should stop and clear them up." while looking right at me. Oops.

Found out that there will be no paid morning duty this year. Every teacher will have to rotate through a schedule of a week or so at a time, but no more money. I guess this is good in the sense that I won't (always) have to get to school so early, but it's not so good in the sense that I won't be making my roughly extra $2K this year.

Tomorrow is another jam-packed day full of excitement and adventure! OR, more boring sessions...

20 things NOT to do on the first day of school

Summer is steadily slipping away, folks! So with that, I present to you the ANTI-Wong -- 20 things NOT to do on the first day of school.

1) Decide not to learn all of your children's names and just call them all "Kid."
2) Come to school dressed as a giant crayola crayon. Some teachers like to dress in costume, but nobody likes a corporate shill.
3) Sleep off a Nyquil-Vodka-Cherry Mountain Dew-induced hangover.
4) Update your Facebook status every 10 minutes.
5) Lecture the kids on how you could've had a V-8.
6) Pester the students for their honest review of your screenplay about intelligent rodents and the women who love them.
7) Mention The Girls Next Door.
8) Teach 8 ways to survive in prison.
9) Take the kids for a walk to the local quick-change oil lube joint.
10) Put on a viewing of The Godfather.
11) Run 10 fire drills back-to-back, followed by duck and cover.
12) Ask for their mother (or father)'s phone number for personal reasons.
13) Show off your prowess as an X-treme sport fanatic.
14) Try to have the kids solve the meaning of life.
15) Reenact the 100 Years War.
16) Model and try to sell your own personal brand of cologne or perfume.
17) Walk into the classroom at 8 o'clock, stare hard at the kids, and say, "You know what to do," and then leave the room for 4 hours.
18) Make a campfire and roast s'mores.
19) Consult a dog-eared, page-marked teacher handbook every 5 minutes.
20) Give the kids money for ANY reason.

I'm on the list, and I can spell!!

Amber of Clear View Education has thoughtfully informed me that Learn Me Good is featured on their recent "100 Best Blogs for Teachers of the Future!" Lucky number 37!

So, teachers of the future that are visiting my blog -- greetings from the past! Thank you for exiting your flying car and your virtual reality program to stop by my antiquated site!

OK, I know that's not what they mean by teachers of the future. And I'm honored to be listed with other blogs such as Siobhan Curious, So You Want to Teach? and NYCEducator.

Speaking of ol' NYCE, he posted a story today pointing towards a lawsuit that a New York college grad has filed against her alma mater. She is suing her college for tuition (except that she spells it "tuitsion") since they have not placed her in a job yet, and she has been out of school for THREE months now!!

Finally, to everyone who is already back in school (DANG!!!), I feel for ya. I really do.

Act now!!

Tomorrow is the first day of school for all of us Texas public school teachers, and I know we're all running around like chickens with our heads cut off (a favorite saying of my old high school basketball coach, The Guam Bomb). So just a quick little note here.

Today and tomorrow are the last days to take advantage of the 25% discount that Spreadshirt is offering as part of their Back to School special. If you buy at least two shirts and use the code SCHOOL108, you get them for 3/4 price!

A few of my teammates suggested that we get some of those shirts in our school's color to wear on the first day of in-service and show third-grade team unity. We wore them last Monday, and everyone at the school loved it! In fact, my principle even said that we can wear those shirts when we have casual Fridays!

The eight of us wore the same color, but we all had different phrases. I was of course wearing the, "I teach, therefore I am... poor," my partner was wearing, "No, Johnny, a 50 is NOT a good score," and the others wore shirts that said, "I love the smell of crayons in the morning," "No Child Left Befuddled," "Thank God for recess," "Don't fear the teacher, baby," "I'm taking a mental health YEAR," and "Lesson plans? We don't need no steeeeeenkin' lesson plans!"

Who knows? Get them in YOUR school's colors, and maybe you can wear them on Fridays as well!