http://www.tattleteaching.com tell-read-share-discuss-vent-vote-link your blog Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:20:19 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en It's been a while.  A new grade, a new curriculum, new standards, 33 beings each with his or her own concerns and quandaries, and not to mention my own in-house proto-teenager draped over the couch in poses of iPodded distress.  Not a lot of energy to write.  Complete sentences.  Even. When ... http://www.tattleteaching.com/2010/02/09/brandon-c/ So often life is about the bad and the ugly.  Not today. I'm helping three of my 5th graders apply to private schools for next year. This is a private school in LA: And this is a public one: I'll let you draw your own conclusions. The application process is, as you might imagine, lengthy ... http://www.tattleteaching.com/2009/10/25/the-good/ Today a mother came to visit after school, four children in tow.  Her son Efrain was a 2nd grader with me last year, and her son Elijah is a fifth grader with me this year.  They are both behind grade-level in all subjects.  They are both small, sweet boys with ... http://www.tattleteaching.com/2009/10/08/chivas/ I've been on a calling spree.  Didn't do your homework?  Here's my cell.  Call your mom--or, preferably, your dad.  First you talk, then I talk.  Sometimes I make six or seven calls a day.  The parents seem to be happy about it, but some kids continue to be repeat offenders. The ... http://www.tattleteaching.com/2009/10/07/cellphone-minutes/ Driving home from school today, I waited at an interminable red light tapping my fingers and half-listening to Scott Simon interviewing some expert about some new type of robot-armed eco soda machine of the future. Blah blah blah blah. I knew it was important, something about fluorocarbons and the ozone ... http://www.tattleteaching.com/2009/09/21/f-the-world/ Not just a couple of weeks, but a couple of months.  I needed to get FAR away from the wild things, and I did.   I roamed all over. But now tomorrow's the first day of the new year, and today was wrap-up of last year. We got our scores today, both last ... http://www.tattleteaching.com/2009/09/08/313/ The marathon is over.  The Wild Things have gone home (or what passes as home).  All that's left is bits of ratty paper and crumbly memories strewn through my room, through me.  A school year.  Nine-ish months of intense proximity.  Just like a pregnancy, only with 20: viginitituplets?  Puts Octomom ... http://www.tattleteaching.com/2009/06/21/the-end/ They came to cart our couches away today.  One month after declaring them a fire hazard. Our Very Nice Custodian:  We're here for the couch. Kids: No!!! Me: Now guys.  You know it has to go... Kids:  Why? Me:  It's veryveryvery dangerous. Kids: Why? Me: Don't you know, couches have a disease.  It's called random spontaneous combustion.  ... http://www.tattleteaching.com/2009/06/10/the-danger-of-couches/ Really I am ready for the school year to end.  As are the kids.  Just had to say it.  More later. http://www.tattleteaching.com/2009/05/28/is-it-summer-yet-2/ [caption id="attachment_287" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Actual California Standards Test Release Questions"][/caption] We finished Day 2 of testing today.  Day 2 was much better than Day 1 when my well prepared students seemed like they'd been sucker-punched, even though we'd spent the whole year covering the material (antonyms, synonyms, word usage, phonics, syllabification, ... http://www.tattleteaching.com/2009/05/12/testing-1-2/