Sorry So Quiet
Every night this week has been busy so far. Last night was The Cat's annual shots visit to the vet. She tried to do her disappearing act into the cabinet under the sink like last time (go down to Wednesday), and the vet we saw this time--who owns cats himself--was highly amused as she kept attempting to pull the cabinet door open even while he was holding it shut with his foot!
Because she couldn't hide in the cabinet, after the vet left the exam room she tried to wedge herself in between the cabinet and the trash can, pressed as close to the wall as possible. . . thinking she'd vanish from the sight of anybody who wanted to take her temperature or vaccinate her or other awful things. I snapped a pic with my phone while we were waiting.
There's no way your big hooman hands can pry me outta here.
The vet did think her thyroid test results from August were slightly high, and she has lost a little weight since her visit in August, so there might be a hyperthyroidism concern--especially with that whole waking me up in the middle of the night thing. She'd need a better test and it's just money I don't have right now--I am thinking that if I have another wedding (or God forbid a funeral) to cantor next month that would cover it, so here's hoping a wedding comes my way.
The other big thing going on is that I submitted grades for the very first time today. It's not report card time, but this is the point in the trimester where the students get a progress report just ahead of parent-teacher conferences. (In my day, progress reports came up only if you were close to failing something.) I don't have conferences but I do have to give grades to my sixth graders. We've done only in-class assignments (no quizzes or tests) and the last one was major and extended over a few classes as they worked in teams to assemble a small research presentation.
Most students did fine with it, but one team had a major meltdown yesterday. This afternoon I went to talk to the curriculum supervisor (who is sort of mentoring me with the whole lesson-planning/grading stuff) about it because I wasn't sure what to do with these guys. Instead of working together, two members zoned out, another kept insisting she didn't know what she had to do (I tried directing all three of them but they just would not get going), and the remaining two were getting resentful and throwing little hissy fits as they attempted to complete the project. Which didn't end up completed properly.
I didn't want to give them all a bad grade, and so after discussion with the curriculum supervisor the three "lost" members wound up with the low end of a decent letter grade, and the entire team will be meeting with me next class to find out what the heck happened.
Grades and attitude problems. My least favorite parts of teaching.
On top of that, all the book fair shipments arrived this morning, and by the end of the week we won't be able to walk (or, you know, teach) in the library because there's all this junk for sale set up in front of our bookshelves and all over our tables. Don't get me wrong, it's a real moneymaker for the school, but for some unknown reason (a) the library is stuck running it, (b) there's no other place it can be held, and (c) it's 2010 and yet all transactions are still done on paper--no web-based or spreadsheet-based sales tools? Are you kidding me?
And now I have to get some sleep because I have to meet with my sixth grade mentees-of-sorts during Special Meeting Thursday. (Did I mention every Thursday is Special Meeting Thursday? A different kind of meeting each week. I'm not used to it yet.)
Don't get me wrong. For the most part, the students are great. My co-workers are nice. I like having a job. But I think this is the week I get to have a cocktail (for the first time since August) once I get to Friday night. I'll have earned it.
Vet: [to me] So it's a test we might [*tap, tap, tap* as Cat starts pulling at cabinet] want to-
[looks down at Cat] Hey! I'm trying to talk here! You're not supposed to go in there.
Because she couldn't hide in the cabinet, after the vet left the exam room she tried to wedge herself in between the cabinet and the trash can, pressed as close to the wall as possible. . . thinking she'd vanish from the sight of anybody who wanted to take her temperature or vaccinate her or other awful things. I snapped a pic with my phone while we were waiting.
There's no way your big hooman hands can pry me outta here.The vet did think her thyroid test results from August were slightly high, and she has lost a little weight since her visit in August, so there might be a hyperthyroidism concern--especially with that whole waking me up in the middle of the night thing. She'd need a better test and it's just money I don't have right now--I am thinking that if I have another wedding (or God forbid a funeral) to cantor next month that would cover it, so here's hoping a wedding comes my way.
The other big thing going on is that I submitted grades for the very first time today. It's not report card time, but this is the point in the trimester where the students get a progress report just ahead of parent-teacher conferences. (In my day, progress reports came up only if you were close to failing something.) I don't have conferences but I do have to give grades to my sixth graders. We've done only in-class assignments (no quizzes or tests) and the last one was major and extended over a few classes as they worked in teams to assemble a small research presentation.
Most students did fine with it, but one team had a major meltdown yesterday. This afternoon I went to talk to the curriculum supervisor (who is sort of mentoring me with the whole lesson-planning/grading stuff) about it because I wasn't sure what to do with these guys. Instead of working together, two members zoned out, another kept insisting she didn't know what she had to do (I tried directing all three of them but they just would not get going), and the remaining two were getting resentful and throwing little hissy fits as they attempted to complete the project. Which didn't end up completed properly.
I didn't want to give them all a bad grade, and so after discussion with the curriculum supervisor the three "lost" members wound up with the low end of a decent letter grade, and the entire team will be meeting with me next class to find out what the heck happened.
Grades and attitude problems. My least favorite parts of teaching.
On top of that, all the book fair shipments arrived this morning, and by the end of the week we won't be able to walk (or, you know, teach) in the library because there's all this junk for sale set up in front of our bookshelves and all over our tables. Don't get me wrong, it's a real moneymaker for the school, but for some unknown reason (a) the library is stuck running it, (b) there's no other place it can be held, and (c) it's 2010 and yet all transactions are still done on paper--no web-based or spreadsheet-based sales tools? Are you kidding me?
And now I have to get some sleep because I have to meet with my sixth grade mentees-of-sorts during Special Meeting Thursday. (Did I mention every Thursday is Special Meeting Thursday? A different kind of meeting each week. I'm not used to it yet.)
Don't get me wrong. For the most part, the students are great. My co-workers are nice. I like having a job. But I think this is the week I get to have a cocktail (for the first time since August) once I get to Friday night. I'll have earned it.
Comments
Rae--hey there! Nice start of a blog there. :)
Oh, yes, I get to run a register. These people better hide their credit cards. ;)
I figured in the meantime I'd give The Cat more breakfast and see if that helps things a little. It's a little cheaper than a test!