Caught a Cold
 
OK, didn’t get everything finished, but I am getting caught up a bit.  I worked on my research project for six more hours this weekend and got the presentation about ESL education finished.  When I finally get the entire paper finished I’ll post it on this site.  All I have left is to get a pamphlet that summarizes the information done and then write the discussion chapter of my project.  In the end it looks like it will be close to 90 pages.
 
I went and talked with a counselor on Sunday about stress, letting emotions be, and how things are going in general.  I don’t really see anything that is terribly wrong, but I love exploring and thinking about energy and zen and meditation - parenthetical note - I had a filling replaced today at the dentist’s office and thought that maybe I should write a book - “Zen and the Art of Being a Dental Patient”!  Remember, that is Dental, with a ‘D’!  Learning the little bit that I have of meditation and calmness has really helped with going to the dentist.  I can really handle a lot more pain now than I could 10 years ago.  -   Anyway, back to the story, we talked a lot and it did help.  I think I’ll try that again.  It is not as pleasant in the short term as a nice massage, but it does seem to help more in the long term.  Besides, she told me to remember to take nice, deep breaths, and that is a good de-stresser at any time.
 
I did not get the tests graded over the weekend.  Grading is turning out to be the bane of my existence.   I am about to start grading more tests and hopefully will make a dent tonight.
 
I did catch a cold on Sunday.  It probably would not have been a big deal except that I sing Tenor at choir and we had a rehearsal on Monday night.  Then I spent the entire day talking on Tuesday at school.  My voice has been pretty weak tonight - hopefully it will still be alive tomorrow.
 
Classes were awesome today!  We started a new chapter and the kids were very well behaved (with only a couple of exceptions).  My two most disruptive students have not been in class for a week and it has made a world of difference.  The class that they were in has made a huge turn-around from where it was only a couple of weeks ago.  I am just sorry for both their sakes and for the sakes of the other kids in that class that it took this long for them to get moved on to a school that can work with them in a smaller scale setting.
 
I REALLY love Algebra!  The concepts and the ideas are just awesome.  I say that because we started the chapter in the book today that is the introduction to solving equations.  I need to work on conveying my sense of fun and excitement to my students!
Tuesday, February 20, 2007