Being a teacher often means being a nerd

So the latest meme seems to be this fun, regional linguistics game. As an English teacher, I am fascinated by linguistics and regional differences. It's one of the things I love about language. It changes. It varies. I love idioms and fairy tales and urban legends. And I love linguistic differences. They fascinate me. So that is my justification for putting this on my blog. I watched 4 this morning, actually, one after another. Bonnie, who went to high school with me and lives not too far. Bethany, who has lived in San Diego twice, but did not grow up here. And Sarah and Lauren, from the UK and Australia, respectively. What a trip! I learned that Lauren calls when the rain falls and it's sunny a sunshower, which is way prettier than what my freak of a family says. I also learned that Bonnie and I have some freakshow things in common, like our pronunciation of "both." It was fascinating to watch them all in a row like that, and really made me want to play along. Just for some slight background, I lived near Salt Lake City, UT until I was 5 or so, then 5 years in Tempe, AZ. Since then, I've been a Cali girl. Mostly San Diego, but I did spend my college years in the Bay Area, and therefore use "random" like it's slang and occasionally (god help me) even say "hella."

Disclaimer: I'm sorry I look like hell. It was a very late night and my body forced me awake too early today. I really do, too, but the video itself isn't too horrible, and I had technical problems that led to me doing this several times, so I shan't be going for beauty this run.

Here are the rules:

The word list: Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theatre, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught

And the questions: 
What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
What do you call gym shoes?
What do you say to address a group of people?
What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
What do you call your grandparents?
What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

Untitled from summer hellewell on Vimeo.

And here is my video! I know I'm late to the game, but if anyone new wants to play along, or if I missed yours somehow, post it in the comments! I would LOVE to do this with my students. I might show them, just for fun. Maybe as part of an idiom lesson, we'll do something crazy similar with regional expressions. That would be fun!

Spelling Bee Love

I promised you happy posts from time to time. Just a shared experience. A glance into my life and my brain.

Thursday past was one of my favorite events of the year. The Third Annual Spelling Bee. As ridiculous as it sometimes sounds when I say it out loud, the Spelling Bee is something I look forward to for months. For one thing, the planning and execution are easy. But more importantly, spelling bees are AWESOME. And this one proved to be no exception.

It helps quite a bit that I've roped Katie McMillan and Brandon Elliott into being my judge and pronouncer, respectively, for the last 3 years. And they are just as geeky and excited as me. It validates me.

But a night of polite clapping, new vocabulary, and academic competition is so gratifying to me. Because my Sudafed is rendering me ineloquent, let me just list my thoughts for you on the night:

• good parent volunteers and good friends can be life savers
• never underestimate the power of a middle schooler. They may miss words like "necessity," but they will blow you away with "crepuscular." That wasn't even the championship word!
• 4 rounds of 2 final spellers is way more exciting than the Super Bowl.
• kids can get just as excited over things like Spelling Bees as they get about things like video games. You just have to give them an outlet. 
• Always designate a photographer. 
• You'd be surprised how supportive kids can be of one another. High fives, hugs, clapping, and even good natured ribbing ensued. Even our champion was described as "beast" by many of the students the next day. In middle school lingo, this is the highest of compliments. 

In the end, 47 seventh and eighth graders participated. Our two finalist went 4 rounds before we had a champion, a seventh grade boy, who took it on the word "dissident." Our 8th grade runner up fought valiantly and deserves recognition for it. 

I love an empty auditorium/school/classroom

The picture was not taken by me, but by parent Talia Perrotta. Thank goodness she had a camera!

March 22nd is the County Spelling Bee, which *may* have been my favorite school day all last year.I can't wait. It's things like this, man. This is why I do it. 

Never a Good Time to Get Sick

Ok, so I realize there are all of 2 or maybe 3 of you that read this blog. But I just wanted to say I'm sorry for not being more brilliant over the weekend. I have amazing ideas floating around in my head for what to write next. They're in there, rattling around amongst the mucus. They feel like pinballs. Or steel drums. Or maybe that's just the headache.

I came down with a horrible cold this weekend, the last weekend of my winter vacation. The sun was shining, we had unseasonably warm weather, even for San Diego, and the beach beckoned. But I stayed in bed. Coughing. Sniffling. Sneezing. Watching Dollhouse, whining on Facebook, and generally filling up the space in my bedroom with tissue.

It's a terrible time to get sick. For one, I lost the last few precious moments of my vacation. Also, I can't call a sub.

Do you know what it entails to call a sub?

You can't just call any sub. Ideally, it's one you have used before and trust. And you have to pray to the sub gods and make sacrifices in their honor and hope that they're available. Otherwise, if you just call the sub pool, it's a little like going to Vegas, except without the free drinks and shiny lights and scantily clad women. You always lose.

Then, once you've secured someone halfway competent to watch your class, you have to create sub plans. This may sound easy. It is not. Planning for myself can be done, largely, in my head. Planning for an unknown variable of a person requires explicit instructions, labeled photocopies, extra activities. That doesn't even scratch the surface, though, since this all has to be done either from home, (while sick, remember?) or at the crack of dawn before kids arrive (still sick). Additionally, you have to include discipline plans, seating charts, and god forbid you have them use the technology. That's not to say there aren't smart, competent subs out there. There are. I have had amazing subs. It's just...well, I've also had not so amazing subs. And unless you know for sure who will be there...

Then the anxiety starts. I'm home in bed, but what time is it? 10am? Ok, that's 2nd period. I wonder how this morning went. Etc. If you have a smartphone, you are also probably getting emails about how your classroom is burning down. And then? When it's all over? You go in and clean up the mess, read the sub notes, and prepare to make examples of students who chose to take advantage.

All in all? Not worth it.

I think that's the one thing I am jealous of people who have office jobs. To take a day off, sick or hooky, without the extra work. That would be nice.

But I am trying to remember, there is no good time to be sick. Sick during vacation? FAIL. Sick while I am working? Double fail (see above). The germy kids will descend upon me soon enough, and hopefully I've filled my sick quota for a while.

So tomorrow will be doubly exhausting. But I think I'll take the easy way out and go in.

On crossing picket lines, or why Together We Are Stronger

It recently became a topic of debate on a coworker's Facebook page, whether or not it was ethical to cross the potential picket lines of a striking school district. It turns out that National City School District has authorized a potential strike, after failing to reach a contract agreement with the district. On the table: furlough days (and the corresponding pay reduction), larger class sizes, and the length of such a contract. Obviously, the teachers don't want to agree to anything that's binding for the long term, if it means so many sacrifices. (This news is as of December 20th, and I can find nothing recent to say they've decided one way or the other)

This coworker, the one that asked about the strike, is employed as a long term sub at our school site. I'm pretty sure he is only working 80%, and he is definitely under-employed. He got his credential at a crappy time to be a new teacher, and is struggling to find a position. And, honestly, he's a great teacher. I feel for him. I was pink slipped 3 years ago, and see my fellow teachers go through that painful and terrifying process yearly. Our economy sucks balls all over the spectrum, not just in education. And fighting for a job can be a fight for survival.

In addition, some of you may have noticed the anti-union rhetoric that has become more and more popular in this debate, as well as in other debates. According to some, unions are to blame for our political problems, our economic problems, our social problems, your issues with your mother, and probably global warming, too. Union leaders probably commune with Satan and kick puppies.

But I need to say a few things on crossing picket lines, and unions. First off, unions represent the labor movement in this country, where we fought for health care, a living wage, and the FREAKING WEEKEND. I, for one, have no desire to navigate a profession where I am unprotected from the whims of my superiors, or from the mercurial nature of educational politics. I have twice voted whether or not to authorize a strike, in my 6 years in public education, and my district has twice voted it down. It takes A LOT to get to that point. It takes many contract negotiation and mediation sessions. It takes multiple votes from constituents. It is not a decision treated lightly, by anyone involved.

If I had to choose whether or not to strike, let me tell you what would go through my mind: First and foremost, what about my students? I can barely stand a sick day when they have a sub. Will they be ok? How will they prepare for the next year? How long will I be away from them? Will the person in charge of them know their idiosyncrasies, their academic needs, their medical needs, their emotional needs? Will they be safe? Will they understand? Next, my personal concerns: How will I pay my bills? Is it best for me to do this or to scab and cross the lines? How will this affect my career and job security in the future? Whether I chose to strike or cross, my heart and mind would be in knots. Either way, I would be racked with guilt. Why? Because teachers do not choose teaching lightly. We are already overworked and unrespected and paid in peanuts. Spoiler alert: We do it for the kids.

So when I hear about people considering crossing picket lines, I can't help but feel betrayed, even as I understand the complexities and difficulty of their situation. United we stand; divided we fall. Every teacher out there on the picket lines came to that decision with gravity and extreme guilt. They made the terribly difficult decision, both personally and professionally, to take a stand. They may even do it against their better judgement, when it comes to their classrooms. By crossing that picket line, you negate all those worries. You negate all we've fought for as a profession. You dismiss all those contradicting forces those teachers have to contend with, and the principles for which they are risking everything to stand . And you know what else? It's plain bad karma. If someone is desperate enough to strike, you better bet your ass there's a good reason for it. Respect that. Tighten your belt a few months longer, and find a job that isn't stolen. One with better conditions, at the very least. If we show them we're willing to work for peanuts, it is peanuts we shall continue to receive.

Rant over. Thanks for listening.

In solidarity.

"Vacation"

I often hear how spoiled teachers are, to get so much time for vacation. And I'll admit, there are lazy mornings over winter break, with the rain pounding on my windows, that I do, indeed, feel spoiled about having time off. There are days I spend in the sunshine while my peers slave in their offices. Even today, with my long, exhausting, crazy day, I feel spoiled to have a job I love, to spend the afternoon in a park with my students, to like seeing people I haven't seen in a while. Call me spoiled for loving what I do, for getting to hang out with awesome kids. But don't call me spoiled because you think I work less than other professions.

There are many arguments I could make to tell you why, indeed, this isn't as wonderful as it looks. But I think the most compelling is just to show you.

I am currently on vacation. I don't go back to work until Tuesday, January 18th. I have had a delicious 4 week winter break, and don't apologize for it. There have been many lazy days and warm, sunshiny days. But there are also, always, many days like today. Today, this is how I spent my "vacation."

I woke up at a very lazy 8am, made breakfast, watched my soap, and had a cup of coffee. I then gathered my belongings and went into my classroom. I immediately put on music (yes, I rock the iTunes while I plan) and rolled up my sleeves. As often happens, though, my classroom was not exactly as I left it. I had a surprise! A shiny new doc cam, set up on my teaching table. The things that previously lived in this place were stacked neatly in all sorts of odd spots, and the old doc cam still sits at a student desk. I am not quite sure what I'm supposed to do with it. So, before I could even begin my regular work, I had to reorganize my work space.

I was in my classroom today for about 3.5 hours. During that time I:

• planned my lessons for the next week for 6th, 7th and 8th grade English
• prepared flipcharts for those lessons
• emailed colleagues and students
• prepared a flipchart for my Portfolio Prep class, as well as the STAR Writing Class (which I no longer teach, but does prepare my students for the test and therefore I am invested in planning)
• cleaned and organized my desk area
• set up and learned how to use my new doc cam
• started cleaning out the front tables which I now plan to use as additional student desks, instead of a teaching area
• met with our librarian, as she had some books to give me
• realized that today will NOT, as I had hoped, be my last day in my classroom before Tuesday.

This is an image taken by my new doc cam. Yay for shiny new toys!

After that I took a lunch break, ran some errands, and headed over to the park by the school to watch the first Middle School soccer scrimmage. It was a beautiful day, and I definitely got some sun. I tried to grade and watch the game at the same time, but seeing many coworkers and parents and students for the first time after several weeks meant too much catching up and socialization. So community building, as we call that, until 3:30. Still work, though!

Next, I scooted my exhausted butt over to the local coffee shop to meet with a coworker. Half an hour of grading someone else's papers (a coworker on maternity leave needing some assistance) and then two hours of planning with and supporting our new team member. We planned out the whole unit for 8th grade English, discussed strategies, and generally flushed out ideas. It can be exhausting planning with someone new, through no fault of theirs!

It was a 9 hour workday. On vacation. I still have several essays to read before next week, and will have to spend at least a few hours doing nothing but cleaning and organizing in my classroom. Not to mention the work that needs to be done on the yearbook, the intervention class, and the upcoming spelling bee!

Mission Statement

So, clearly, I've decided to start a blog. Why? You may ask. Well, here's the thing. Besides the fact that I am clearly cutting edge enough to be doing something cutting edge from 10 years ago, as a teacher, I spend a lot of time thinking about education. I spend a lot of time grading, planning, reading, professionally developing, idea bouncing, politics-navigating, and generally embodying my career. It is a "more than full time" job. Yet, here we are, in the midst of a not-so-nice social debate--no, attack--on education. And the teachers' voices are rarely heard. For that matter, the students' voices are rarely heard. So, I want to put my voice out there, into the void, for anyone interested in what it's REALLY like for at least one middle school teacher in America.

What this blog is:

This blog is a peek inside my life and my brain. Sometimes, I will be talking about the actual work I do, the experiences my students and I have (no worries, I'll change names to protect the innocent) and the amount of actual energy and time it takes to do this job. Other times, I'll be discoursing on politics, reform, an article about education, a conversation I've had with my teacher friends and non-teacher friends, etc. It is MY experience, and MY opinion, but both are valid additions to this debate.

What this blog is NOT:

Obviously, I do not claim to represent the opinions or experiences of anyone but myself. I would LOVE to have readers who both agree and disagree with me comment and discuss in a respectful manner, and questions are always welcome, but I will not bash anyone here and disapprove of bashing in general. I expect adults to be able to follow the same rules to which I hold my 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. So let's keep it respectful, mmmmkay?