Couch Potato
Lately I have been a lousy advocate for the teaching profession. This post probably won't help.Our school has hired a consultant group to help bring up our test scores. Because, you know, test scores show how good you are at teaching. (Does sarcasm translate in blogland? I'm never sure.) So Monday and Tuesday afternoons were spent with the guy assigned to the math department. Poor guy. He didn't know what he was in for.
Today I am in tech training all day. It's good stuff but it's hard to be out of the classroom so much. There is a lot to do in the coming weeks, especially as the AP test approaches. Add to the busy workweek James' birthday, James' birthday party, preparing a lesson for Sunday's class, and preparing Sunday's sermon and you can see why I have enjoyed calling it a day and plopping on the couch for an hour or two before bedtime.
I am currently fighting an oncoming addiction to "Deal Or No Deal." I am finding that there are two aspects of this show I greatly enjoy. One is guessing the amount the banker will offer the contestant to quit and go home. The other is rooting against each contestant as they begin to show obvious signs of greed. I've only watched two and a half episodes, but I've rooted against everybody so far except the Texan who actually quit when he had enough. I'm also anxious to see if Howie Mandel blows up a rubber glove with his nose.
I am, of course, firmly addicted to The Amazing Race. Last week's cliffhanger wrapped up last night in Germany. My favorite nerds, Dave and Lori, were in last place for a while, but the mother and daughter got hopelessly lost on the audobaun. So they lived to race another week. There weren't any great nerd quotes this week, but I love watching these two play. They stay very calm and they never bicker. They are incredibly supportive of each other, they are smart, they are friendly to the other players, but they came to win. The hippies are funnier, but I seem to identify with the nerds more.
I'm taking tomorrow off so that I can stay home and rest a bit. I'll work on my sermon but mostly I just need some time to shake off the stress of the last couple of weeks. I'll need the rest since tomorrow evening we are celebrating James' birthday at McDonalds with family and about 20 of his friends. I'm taking an Excedrin before we go.
posted by Thurman8er @ 8:48 AM
7 Comments:
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Ah yes, the “gift” those in power have given us for this generation of students, “The Test!”
The Test now equals:
1. Federal Funding.
2. Teacher bonuses.
3. School rankings.
4. Students’ choice or non-choice of electives.
5. Students being retained.
6. Students not being eligible for a high school diploma.
7. Individual teacher rankings.
8. Stressed out third graders (in Florida) who fear the FCAT and the Florida Writes Test.
9. The full attention of instruction in the classroom.
10. No Child Left Behind even though some of them sit in my classroom and don’t pay attention or try.
Enough said. Enjoy Mickey D’s and James’ birthday.
Greg, I don't drink Jack Daniels. I like tequila.
Judy, I've never heard that "heel dust" expression before. I like it.
Cecil, I knew you would share my frustrations in testing. I could go on about it, but I'm afraid Brady will ask me if I want some cheese with my whine.
Randy, I'll be praying too. Maybe we should e-mail each other our stuff when we're done and then decide whose sermon we want to preach on Sunday. Maybe Greg and Brady could join us in a round-robin of sermon trade-offs.
Hey, I'm into the sermon idea stuff. But I think I'm tackling a project that Randy did about 2 years ago.
I love cheese. Hope the prep goes/went well.
Steve - You, Randy, Greg, and Brady could get more milage our of your sermon sharing if you went to a double elimination format.
Greg -
Once a sermon is used twice by any combination of you guys, it's eliminated from the sermon pool.
By the way, bonus points for any preacher who can get away with preaching the same sermon twice within a month.
P.S.
Members can text message their votes to their elders (as it should be) to keep a sermon passed the required double elimination limit.
Glad I could help. I'm actually starting to think this is a good idea. Maybe I should get more sleep.
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