Special Thx
14 years!!!
Today I celebrate 14 years with my best friend. It hasn’t always been easy, but he is still the one that makes me swoon and I am truly blessed.
Celebrating 14 years
Trudging through
One more day of this week. I’m taking Friday for personal reasons. Next week—exams. Woo. Working on grades and other fun stuff now. Wow, tired.
Getting closer to the end...
Burning with exhaustion
Yeah, the phrase should be ‘burning with desire’ but I’m too wiped out for that and my eyes are burning from wind and speedway fumes! From 11:30 AM until 7:30 PM I was in a golf cart driving people around the outside of the speedway from one gate to another. Unfortunately, rain did not hold out for the Saturday night race. SOAK-N-WET was what we were. Wow. Still worth it. We are serving a need at the speedway, so that feels great. Second, you meet lots of people and many are even nice. Third, I am getting to experience an element of racing and be a part of something that my husband loves so much.
There were two highlights of today…The first was almost getting run over by Richard Petty playing on his scooter in the infield area. The second was carting a turn announcer into the infield and across for a personal appearance. Not sure what he was appearing for and I really had no idea who he was until he told the couple riding in the back of my cart. When he said he was the guy you heard saying, “trouble in turn four!” I recognized the voice. It was thanks to a few tips from him that I learn a few short cuts in the infield area that helped me out later in the day.
What I find a little odd, the drivers and owners copter in but the crew guys park in a few designated areas not that close to their entrance. I was able to cart several of these guys to their entrance and think that it is a shame that crew members so essential to the success of the team have to park and hike. It seems that they would have their own parking area and a shuttle to their entrance. I guess they have us, when we are available, but most of the guys I picked up were given a ride because I had just made a drop near them and caught them on the way back. I’m a firm believer that the crew guys make the difference between win and lose. Really…they should get a few more perks.
Good Stewards
Living in NC and near the racing capital, NASCAR is starting to grow on me. (Jem, don’t get your hopes up. It ain’t growin’ THAT much.) I’m all about the race sponsorships and keeping the sport going. It is a great benefit to out local economy. However, I find something highly inappropriate with the North Carolina Education Lottery sponsoring a race! Yes…It was the 2009 NC Education Lottery 200. Since the premise of an education lottery is to fund education, shouldn’t the lottery funds be spent on EDUCATION and NOT a NASCAR truck race?!?!? Education is being cut in every possible way and the lottery to fund it is being spent on a race sponsorship…not a car sponsorship…not an advertising banner…the WHOLE truck race! Unreal.
Entering the backstretch
Jem has done it several times, but Saturday was my first time to help run golf carts at the speedway. It is a service our church provides for the race fans. The rides are free, but donations are accepted. All donations go to Speedway Children’s Charities. At first I was apprehensive. My knowledge of the speedway consists of which direction to turn in order to get home. It was the landmark of reference when we first moved here.
Rain and all, it was great fun. After signing liability away I hopped a cart with Jem so he could show me around the speedway. After pointing out necessary points of interest he turned me over to my own cart. For the most part people were really nice and thankful for the ride. Others viewed it as their personal right to be chauffeured from one gate to the other. Um…no. The goal is to choose your passengers based on visible need. Race fans come in all forms and it is amazing how many in questionable health come out for the show. For those without knowledge of the service we provide I must question their judgment. There is a LOT of walking involved at a race event. If you just had knee replacement, heart, lung, etc… surgery then why are you pushing yourself to the maximum limit?
I was only there for the afternoon shift so I missed out on the truly inebriated. The few that I did encounter were left to their own devices. I had no intention of dealing with them on my cart. The truly interesting part came when the rains did. Do you have any idea how much rain drops hurt when you are traveling in an open front cart at 10 mph? Yeah…ouch. Coming around the backstretch I thought we were going to luck out and only get the edge of the rain. I had seen it coming just a few minutes earlier, but it wasn’t raining much on the backstretch…then I turned the corner to head up the front stretch side. DOWN POUR. It went from puppies and kittens to cats and dogs. Many took shelter and many decided to head back to their camp site.
Back and forth, around and about, we drove for several hours before turning carts over to others showing up for their shift. Jem was scheduled for the late shift so we headed home to relax before he had to go back. For a first time, it was a good experience for me and one that I’m glad I signed up for. I want to be involved. I want to serve where I can…but taking the initiative to try something new is not easy. This weekend was a warm-up. Next is the big race and I’m hoping for cool and dry.
- – - Two teaching weeks remaining! – - -
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Listening to: Coldplay – Viva la Vida
via FoxyTunes
Soaring interest
Several days ago, using the Virtual Stock Exchange, I started a stock simulation with my students. I posted the instructions on the class website and emailed all registered users. This included ALL of my students and not just the civics students that are required to participate. I did not anticipate the response. I teach 37 civics students and there is a much larger number playing my stock simulation. They are totally into this game!
My second period is a global studies class and they were to be working on foreign policy research for their final exam paper. I look up and JC is on the stock site. Why? He just wanted to play. He isn’t even in the civics class! His response, yes, but I am ranked higher than you. *grin* At least he is interested! About thirty minutes later I notice that JC is not the only student in my global studies class playing the simulation. Only two of them were actually required to. They were watching stock, researching tips, learning how the market works, looking up the terms they didn’t understand, and helping each other. Their goal….outrank me. It’s nice to have goals.
I have been dreading the econ portion of my civ class for months now, but the students are loving it. We have to do the book work and they race through it, learning what has to be learned so they can move on to the activities. Today we divided into buyers and sellers negotiating the crude oil market. It is so great to have them engaged, enthusiastic, and learning. With two teaching weeks remaining I am wishing I had started this earlier.
feedback
I had students complete feedback forms for their AP exam. I asked how they felt about the exam, did they struggle with time, did review sessions help, how did they personally prepare, and then asked for suggestions.
Several students admitted that they did not prepare as they should have. I expected this.
The suggestions didn’t exactly surprise me as much as it irritated me. I will admit that I did not move fast enough at the beginning of the year and allowed the students to dictate class speed instead of forcing them forward. However, let me address a few suggestions that I struggle with.
You should provide a topic list for every chapter/topic
You chose to attend a school that focuses on rigor. You chose to take an AP class. I feel that that is also making the choice to be self motivated and self accountable. BTW, if you check your syllabus there is a list of topics for each section and many questions for thought.
You should make the online lecture powerpoints mandatory
I provide links to MANY resources. The lectures you reference take less than 30 minutes to complete. You know they are helpful. You know I use them as a guide and foundation for my instruction. Hmmm. Take the initiative and make use.
You should give more quizzes so we will read more.
Why? You should be motivated enough to read without me taking class time to give you a quiz that you are going to struggle with b/c you haven’t read.
I have no problem with the suggestions that addressed MY faults. I take issue with the suggestions addressing personal laziness and shifting blame to me.
Two weeks! WHAT?!?!?!
OMG there are only TWO weeks of teaching left! The end of the year is near! I am very excited, but there is so much to do!
Now for your amusement…if you really want to kill some time and get a good laugh check out photofunia!
Mother’s Day
In less than an hour it will be Mother’s Day…a day we set aside to recognize the one that gave us life. It is not a day that I embrace. My mother left when I was two so the day was always awkward for me. I hold no animosity toward my mother. She was 19 and did what she had to do. I have long ceased attempts to reconcile her choices with my own understanding of what a mother should be and take the stance that it is what it is. Despite the absence of my birth mother, I grew up with a mother. In fact, I claim two.
My grandmother raised me. I have posted about her several times and explain how she was instrumental in my life. There isn’t a day that I don’t think of her. A mother is not simply the individual that brought you into this world. A mother is someone who invests in you. A mother is someone who is there to guide you through the good times and bad. A mother is someone who shelters us, who guides us, who loves us no matter what.
to make a house a home,
A place to be remembered,
no matter where we roam.
It takes a Mother’s Patience,
to bring a child up right,
And her Courage and her Cheerfulness
to make a dark day bright.
It takes a Mother’s Thoughtfulness
to mend the heart’s deep “hurts,”
And her Skill and her Endurance
to mend little socks and shirts.
It takes a Mother’s Kindness
to forgive us when we err,
To sympathize in trouble
and bow her head in prayer.
It takes a Mother’s Wisdom
to recognize our needs
And to give us reassurance
by her loving words and deeds.
It takes a Mother’s Endless Faith,
her Confidence and Trust
To guide us through the pitfalls
of selfishness and lust.
And that is why in all this world
there could not be another
Who could fulfill God’s purpose
as completely as a MOTHER!
A mother isn’t the dictionary definition. I have been fortunate to have two women instrumental in my development. My Gran was one, and my aunt is the other. Both invested time, patience, support and love. I am thankful for the life given to me by my birth mother, but grateful for the life shaped by the others.
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Listening to: JackJohnson and MattCosta – Lullaby
via FoxyTunes
Grand plans
I had grand plans to get much grading completed today. Instead I mowed the lawn, took PreTeen to the church office for a kid party, went to the store, purchased a few grocery items and another gift for Lil Bit’s ninth birthday, came home, wrapped gifts, picked up PreTeen and returned home, then let Lil Bit open presents, had cake and ice cream, sat down to do work and checked the radar, noticed storms moving in very soon, rushed back outside to finish weed-eating, came in to watch it storm and was thoroughly unimpressed, took PreTeen to a friend’s house for bday and sleepover, came home to settle in with grades again, but ended up watching Jem make hamburgers on the grill while I played badminton with Lil Bit, ate dinner, took a bath and read my new Carl Hiaasen book, settled back in to grade where I was distracted by Facebook and blogging.
In case you are wondering there are still seven folders of grading sitting beside me and several folders have more than one assignment. Fortunately, most are simple participation grades. I tell students, “the longer I hold your papers the more lenient I tend to be.” They leave me alone about grading now…for the most part. With only three teaching weeks remaining I have to get on the ball!
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