I am caught up!

One plus of being extra busy with normal life is that it is so routine that there is not much to blog about. That, plus the fact I’ve been avoiding studying for the test in the mornings, means that I am caught up on this blog for the first time since June 2008! That’s right. If you are reading this on Friday, March 13, that would be the same day in which I typed this! So exciting.

I’m aware that this blog is in its “In & Inactive” state again. That is partially because I forgot to bring my camera when I went to Sunriver last weekend with the staff of my school. There would have been pictures from that, but alas. Hopefully with the coming of spring (and spring break!) there will be more pictures.

So I take the big Praxis test tomorrow. 10:45. Wish me luck. I’m hoping to not have to take it again.

Math teacher report 3/13

I’m warning you right now, this will be a “didn’t really do it” sort of post. I’m really tired and my mental energy is going toward the test on Saturday and my final project for my class. Both of those are things that are essential for me becoming a math teacher, so it isn’t like I’m not doing anything.

Finish that message thing
Not done yet. I think I need to find three or so teachers to give me advice and then send them some version to see what they like best.

Look at three potential volunteer tutor jobs
I didn’t even remember that I made this goal.

Contact five people about informational interviewing
Hah!

Write two blog posts.
I wrote one. I have another one burbling in my brain. I have some ideas for a series.

I’ll revisit the math teacher goals during/after spring break. The start of the quarter is a good time for me to integrate new things in my life.

Weekly report: becoming a math teacher

Here is my 2/26/09 weekly report of how I’m doing with my job search.

message crafted?
I made some notes about what I wanted in my message. They are the following.

  • teach math/explore math/learn math. This is for what I want to teach. “Teach math” is the most succinct, but I’m wondering if it would be better to say something like “I want to help students learn/understand math…” Explore? Maybe not. It might be a little too touchy-feely.
  • struggling mathematicians. This is what I was/am and who I want specifically to work with students who have trouble making math connections. I believe that my past history with math will help me find more ways to help students understand concepts.
  • organization/goal setting. Something I rock at is organization, anyone who has worked with me will tell you that. I believe that being organized isn’t something you are born with, but something you learn. All my students will master steps to become organized learners. I would like to incorporate goal setting into my curriculum. By setting and monitoring weekly and monthly goals, students will not only have a greater understanding of what reasonable goals are and the steps to meet them, they will also use their goals to master math concepts.
  • different ways to solve problems
  • cross curriculum
  • students will learn: math, organization, goal setting.

…Picking up on 3/7. And I ran out of time and had to go to work. So I didn’t set goals for this last week. It was a busy week and not a lot happened in the realm of future math teacher Patricia. So I will finish reporting what happened and then make new goals.

student teaching started?
This was much easier than I thought. I asked my boss if she would mind if I observed math class, and taught a unit or two. She thought that was a fine idea. Then I just had to ask the 4/5 teachers. I caught both of them in the kitchen on a short break. Here’s how the conversation went:
Me: “For my math thing, I don’t technically have to student teach…”
Julie: “Yes”
Jo: “I get her.”
(They argue)
Me: “I haven’t even finished what I was going to say!”
So I am currently observing Julie’s Math class two days per week and will teach a unit sometime in the near future. So far I’ve observed I need to work on my mental math skills.

informational interviews begun?
Um, yeah, contacting 10 people was a bit much, especially given how much I don’t like to do informational interviews. I contacted no people and stewed about the issue and finally decided to order What Color is Your Parachute from the library. I did that and read the chapter on informational interviewing and now that I have done that, I guess I have to move in that direction. Sigh.

blog posts kicked up?
I did three blog posts that first week and have done none since.

Goals for 3/12:

  • finish that message thing
  • look at three potential volunteer tutor jobs
  • contact five people about informational interviewing
  • write two blog posts.

Two short rants.

Hey big-calfed, expensive biked man,

I can see that you spend a lot of time on your bike. You clearly have the physique and have sunk a lot of money into that bike you are riding. And if I cared about speed I would be so impressed with how fast you are. But you know what? One of the reasons I love riding a bike is that mostly people who ride bikes are nice people, friendly, polite. Not you apparently. When you pass someone on the right—because you are so fast and can’t stand to slow down—especially when someone else is passing that person on the left, it would be rather nice if you said something like, “Coming up on your right.” We aren’t trapped in cars, unable to communicate. I don’t listen to an i-pod while biking and can hear quite clearly. Use your words. A, “good morning” would be nice too. And I know that you can’t have fenders on your bike because they add precious weight to your superfast machine. But when you ride without fenders in the autumn/winter/spring in Portland all that road grit goes everywhere. Including on me as you abruptly pass me on the right. Nice. Thanks a lot.

Hello parents at the school in which I work,

Yep, I stand every day at the door at the beginning and end of school and greet you and your children. Some of you even return my greeting, which is nice. You know what isn’t nice? You saying, “You look exhausted!” You know why? Most days I’m not exhausted, just someone with large bags under her eyes getting through a part of her day she doesn’t really enjoy that much. So when I’m doing the part of my job that I have settled into tolerating, and someone comments on how tired I look and I’m not actually tired at all—or, as happened yesterday, feeling the most well-rested I’ve felt in months—it doesn’t feel very good. If you are tired yourself and just projecting, don’t. If you are actually concerned about my physical state, there are better ways to ask. Just don’t assume I am tired.

Thanks.

Why you should stop what you are doing and subscribe to your local paper.

I mean it. Right now. You can even do it while sitting in front of your computer. I can wait.

You want reasons? Okay here are a few.

  • Newspapers are having trouble making the digital transition. For the most part, reading things on the internet is free, but the ad revenue generated from internet ad sales does not begin to meet traditional sources of ad revenue. While most newspapers are available in online form they aren’t the presence they have traditionally been in their paper form.
  • The ad revenue in print sources pays for the reporters who have the time to do the investigations about issues that are important to your life. Issues that you didn’t know you cared about until they are reported on. Coming this Sunday, the Oregonian will publish a report about placing foster children with relatives in other countries. The reporters’ work led directly to a moratorium placed on this practice.
  • Newspapers are an essential part of creating community. Do you want to know what is going on in your town, city or state in the government, entertainment or sports? The newspaper has the answer.
  • Reading newspapers makes you sound smart. Can I talk intelligently about the proposal to bring Major League Soccer to Portland? Yes. Why is that? Because I’ve read every article about the issue that was published in the Oregonian, Willamette Week and Portland Mercury.
  • Reading the newspaper introduces you to so many cool things. I can’t tell you how often someone has said to me, “How did you even hear about that?” and the answer is always that it was something I read in the newspaper.

Excuses I don’t want to hear:

  • I don’t agree with the political opinions of my newspaper. Okay stop. I grew up wildly liberal and reading the Idaho Statesman, which does not fit anywhere close to the definition of liberal print media. I disagreed with most of the editorials, their coverage of education and half to three-quarters of the letters to the editor. I still found out incredible amounts about what was going on in my community, as well as following the lives of the Patterson Family in For Better or for Worse.
  • I don’t have time to read my newspaper. I didn’t say you have to read the newspaper, just subscribe to it. You know those micro-loans that are so successful in third world countries? Think of your subscription as that. Ad revenue is based on the number of subscribers, not on the number of subscribers who read the paper. And really, you don’t have time to read even one section? Even the fluffy section? Please.
  • Newspapers waste too many resources. All that paper is expensive and needs to be recycled and I don’t want to do it. This is true. It may waste much fewer resources to read things online. But, quite frankly, online newspapers aren’t very good. Oregonlive.com, the Oregonian’s website recently had an upgrade. It is now simply bad instead of maddeningly frustrating. Like I said above, newspapers are having a tough time making the digital transition. Once they have and are okay, you can discontinue your paper subscription and cease the odious task recycling mounds of paper. Until then, buck up and buy some carbon offsets or something. Also, if you are that person above who doesn’t read the paper, recycling becomes much easier.
  • I can’t afford it. Yes, yes, times are tough. But as a former colleague once remarked, “I can’t believe you can get all that stuff in one paper and it only costs fifty cents.” It is a marvel. My monthly subscription is $13.95, which is about the same price as a movie and popcorn. For that I get untold hours of reading enjoyment and grumbling, not to mention the side bonus of being well-informed.
  • I don’t really care. You should. For all the reasons pointed out above and in the This Modern World Cartoon from 03/03/09. Remember that trained journalist make a difference.

So don’t delay. Subscribe today. Now. I’m not kidding. Do it.

Countdown.

I’m at that point where I am just waiting for three events to be over. Not that I am sitting passively by, all of them require much work on my part, alas. But I am looking forward to these things being done so I can catch up with my “normal life”.

The first will be done by 3:00 pm today, that is the Youth Service. It doesn’t require a lot of work, but the mental energy commitment is a bit large and every year when it is over, portions of my brain that have been thinking about it, are free to go back to their idle musings.

On March 14, I take the Praxis Middle School Math test. The test itself is 2 hours of my life, but I have spend 43 hours studying in regular half hour chunks since early September. I took a practice test last night and now can complete the problems in the time allotted with the bonus that now I understand how to tackle 95% of them, a fact that was not true when I began this process. So all my studying has benefited me, I just don’t know if I will have enough right answers to pass. Time will tell, but I’m most excited that it takes 4 weeks to get your results. So I will have four weeks of not studying.

Following soon on the test’s heels is my final paper and project for my math class. This is a tough one, because it requires me to have an actual product–the other ones will happen whether I’m prepared or not, but this requires me to not only produce a paper of some length, but also have a presentation. I can’t really fake my way through either of those. So the other back of my mind is working on that problem and I have to carve more time out of my schedule to actually put pen to paper, or rather letters on screen.

While I work on those things, so many other things are dropping by the wayside. Less vegetables are being consumed. My desk has geologic layers on it, marking the passage of time. Someone’s birthday present is underneath everything, and I hope I can mail it today. Laundry isn’t folded, blog posts aren’t finished, bank balances haven’t been updated. Goals aren’t being made.

I don’t mind rising to the occasion and “doing” all of these things, but I really hate the aftermath: I’m tired and then have to catch up all the things that have fallen by the wayside. Mostly I don’t mind making the amount of money I make (though I’m always open to more, of course) but it’s during these times that I recognize the power of money for easing your life. “It would be nice if I could hire someone to cook and clean up for me.” I think to myself. But alas, I can’t, so I hobble on. Thank god spring break is coming up. I can’t imagine trying to do the catch up without it.

Read in February

Ugh! I didn’t love anything I read this month! Okay, Tales of Beedle the Bard was fine, I didn’t hate it. But it was a small wisp of a book. Every single book I finished this month I would have been fine with not finishing. Oh wait. I really liked the How to Hepburn book. But overall, I’m in a disgruntled stage with my reading right now. I think it doesn’t help that I’m currently reading six books right now. Usually I have 2-4 books started, but I read steadily through one, then pick up another. I’m trying Matt’s rotation method (reading bits of many books at once) and I think it doesn’t work for me. Perhaps my March plan will be to finish all the books I have started and focus on no more than three books at a time. Also, if you can recommend me some good fiction books down there in the comments, I would be forever grateful. Just one or two good fiction books you have read recently. Please!

Finished
Life on the Refrigerator Door.
Alice Kuipers
Quick read. You know those notes you scrawl back and forth to the people you live with? The entire book is composed of the equivalent of those. It’s an interesting exercise, but it turns out I missed all the description, etc. Still, even without all of those things the ending was a tear-jerker.

How to Hepburn
Karen Karbo
Karen Karbo appears occasionally in the Oregonian and I enjoy her voice. This was an interesting combination biography and “self-help” book, though it was really more of the former and the latter was a bit tounge-in-cheek. I liked the biographic details of Hepburn’s life, but my favorite part was the commentary by Karbo. Her musings on friendship, women and marriage and women and work were astutely observed. She is funny, too.

Tales of Beedle the Bard
J.K. Rowling
I liked these tales just fine, but learning about the charity the book is supporting was really interesting.

Confinement
Carrie Brown
How could I love one of this author’s books (The Rope Walk) so much and not like any of her others? This started out well: Jewish immigrant and his son from Austria by way of England becomes a driver for a wealthy man in upstate New York. The flashbacks to pre-WWII Austria were interesting at first but the whole pace of the book was a bit plodding to me. I do have to give her props for writing about vastly different characters and settings in each of her novels.

Sunshine
Robin McKinley
This started out great. It seemed to be set in present day, with a brassy main character, happy with her life as a baker in her family’s cafe. Then details crept in and it turns out that was at first felt like present day is set in some parallel universe with “wares” and “suckers” and troubles. Then the main character is kidnapped by Vampires. I was totally into it, excitedly telling people about the book, even people who I know don’t read books. Somewhere near the last quarter, though I lost interest. The story kept going, but lost its edge for me. Alas. Still, better than Twilight. By a lot.

Om Yoga Today: Your yoga practice in 5, 15, 30, 60 & 90 minutes.
Cindi Lee.
I liked the workouts, though I only did the five and fifteen minute versions. The illustrations were sparse, literally stick figures, so I would say this isn’t a book for beginners, but rather people already familiar with the poses. I liked the illustrations, but I would have preferred there also to be some indication of “breathe in” and “breath out.” If I end up buying this book I will add my own symbols. Overall, a good book to have around, I would say.

Started but did not finish
Comedy at the Edge: How stand-up in the 1970s changed America
Richard Zoglin
A good academic study of comedy, which was a bit too academic for me at this point in my life.

American Photobooth
Nakki Goranin
I started to read the essay about the evolution of the photobooth and got distracted and didn’t finish it. But most people will get this book for the photobooth pictures, which were striking.

The James Beard Cookbook
James Beard
Someone recommended this cookbook to me as a nice basic one, so I thought I would investigate the library’s copy. Indeed, it appeared to be a nice basic cookbook.

Telex from Cuba
Rachel Kushner
I wanted to like this novel set in the pre-Castro Cuba. But I just couldn’t get into any of the characters.

Geometry Success in 20 minutes per day
Debbie Y. Thompson
I was feeling blue about my upcoming Praxis exam and so checked out this book to supplement my Geometry learning. I took the quiz at the beginning at got an 84% and felt much better. So I sent the book back without doing the rest of the activities. I did like that the author had a message at the beginning asking people who check the book out from a library not to mark answers in the book. She even helpfully suggested that you mark your answers on a scratch sheet of paper, advice that someone before me ignored.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking
Julia Child
I was thinking of using this to find fun new ways to cook vegetables, but now is not the time for me to find fun new ways to cook vegetables.

Didn’t even start
I started everything. Though a lot of good that did me.

What’s wrong with this picture?

If no professional, semi-professional or student athlete game in any sport was ever played again, I would not be sad. I’m not into sports. I am, however, into equity in sports and these signs frost my liver. What century are we living in?

Though not team-sports oriented myself, I have always been thankful I came of age after Title IX passed. These signs show that there are still miles to go before we have true equity.

How do I think the signs should be worded? How about:
Viking Men’s Basketball
Viking Women’s Basketball.

If you are going to put the qualifying possessive adjective on the women’s sign, the men’s sign needs it too.

Kate Winslet’s crow’s feet…

…rock.

Last night while watching the Oscars, more than one comment was made about the lines around Kate Winslet’s eyes. Age was brought up, children were brought up, but I think it boils down to one reason I love Kate Winslet. She seems entirely unconsumed with the “Hollywood” part of acting, yet remains a Hollywood star. She doesn’t seem to let people push her around about her weight, she followed up the biggest blockbuster of the late 20th century with a strange independent film set in Morocco, and she comes to awards ceremonies with her aging skin on view. Granted, her aging skin is in its early 30s, but still. The above things alone would propel me to see nearly every movie that she makes; the fact that she is an incredible actress is just the cherry on top.

I want to see my actors age! I want their skin to soften and go slack and the wrinkles creep across their face. When I look at their 40 year old selves, I want to see something different than their 20 year old selves. I don’t want to see an immovable, porcelain forehead, I don’t want to see a 50 year old without wrinkles and I really don’t want to see a bunch of women looking like Sophia Lauren, whose strange appearance on screen caused more than a few “aaaaahhhhs” in the room.

All the rest of you regular people out there, same goes for you. Let us age as we age. There is no fighting age. Let us enjoy it.

A made-up holiday for February.

I strongly believe that this country needs much more vacation time. Much. However, the powers that be in this country think that having no national standard for vacation time is entirely acceptable. “People can negotiate for the amount of vacation time that is right for them.” some clueless executive said once on a radio program I was listening to once, completely ignoring the fact that a lot of Americans don’t get to negotiate their vacation time at all, and that for most people the amount of vacation time that is right for them is not an amount that is acceptable to the company.

But I digress. Because of our severe lack of national holidays, I think you can make up your own. Here is one for the end of February. Watch the Oscars. During the Oscars they usually show a lot of clips from many decades of film. I usually find myself thinking something along the lines of, “You know, I’ve never seen Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” Make notes of all those movies you have never seen. After the show is over go to the video store (oh, alas East Coast people, the video store has closed. You’ll have to make do) and pick up a bunch of those movies. The next day, call in sick to work and watch them. You won’t be sorry.

I think we should call it Oscar Day.