I finished the second draft of the Language Arts accreditation profile. It's 7 pages single spaced. I am giving copies out to the rest of the LA team tomorrow, I made it one and a half spaced for them. Well, written, I think. Anyway, I emailed a memo to each person letting them know where in the process we were and asking them to edit and return by Friday so I would have plenty of time to do more drafts as necessary. I also emailed this memo to my principal to let her know where we are in this important process. It doesn't hurt that it makes me look good in many ways, including working so hard on a Sunday. ;P
The house is almost done. While I was at CVS getting candles and soda, the boys wrecked the living room. So they need to finish that and I need to clean the kitchen more. The laundry won't even be getting started, though, given the bday party with the neatnik in-laws (I think I alrady said that...)
Guess what? An old friend I owe an amends to is in OA and just started doing a night step herself and over the last couple of days started thinking of doing a 9th step to me. Then out of the blue I find her on FB! What timing from above.
The house is almost done. While I was at CVS getting candles and soda, the boys wrecked the living room. So they need to finish that and I need to clean the kitchen more. The laundry won't even be getting started, though, given the bday party with the neatnik in-laws (I think I alrady said that...)
Guess what? An old friend I owe an amends to is in OA and just started doing a night step herself and over the last couple of days started thinking of doing a 9th step to me. Then out of the blue I find her on FB! What timing from above.
I posted a link on my FB to an article about procrastination. It suggested that people procrastinate over fear - fear of succeeding or fear of failure and one has to determine which one is feeling. I am procrastinating writing the accreditation report because I fear I can't do it well. THe initial draft was written by a better writer than I. So am recognizing that fear and doing something about it. I am writing the report with enough time to have everyone necessary read over it.
Breaking into parts today. Right now I will open the darn thing (which is intimidating enough) and gettig all the papers out. Then I will answer the first three questions and take a break. This sounds silly to be writig but it's a very intimidating project. I still have to get the house clean because my neatnik In-laws are coming this afternoon for a Shirley and Sam b-day party.
BTW, for my MIL I bought here tickets to the Walnut Theatre in Phila. for three musicals coming up. I got her two tickets for each so she can bring a different grand child with her for each performance. (Patting myself on the back for this brilliant idea.)
Ok, opening the file now....
Breaking into parts today. Right now I will open the darn thing (which is intimidating enough) and gettig all the papers out. Then I will answer the first three questions and take a break. This sounds silly to be writig but it's a very intimidating project. I still have to get the house clean because my neatnik In-laws are coming this afternoon for a Shirley and Sam b-day party.
BTW, for my MIL I bought here tickets to the Walnut Theatre in Phila. for three musicals coming up. I got her two tickets for each so she can bring a different grand child with her for each performance. (Patting myself on the back for this brilliant idea.)
Ok, opening the file now....
Hubby has National Guard duty all this weekend so I am stuck at home with the kids. I had a huge fight with the kids about cleaning their rooms. I don't know why I let them suck me into a battle. They usually win battles. I finally dropped it and told each one they couldn't have a privilege they wanted till they were done. Then calmly walked away. It worked. Wish i had figured out that earlier. i am just not good at commanding authority. It's my worst parenting area and my worst teaching area.
One of Steve's siblings and his wife are coming over tomorrow for the double bday party. I need to find a present for Shirley really fast. She loves the theatre. Many I can get her tix to something coming up at the Walnut theatre. I will have to check online what;s coming up.
My tarot reading for my job were very accurate. I kept getting the Magician which suggested I would be in a position to use my skills for a lot of innovative activities. Which I have.
I have to schedule two meetings this coming week - one about the video I am making about the school Open House video and one about my new schedule. With 2 hours a day designated for lunch and recess duty, that leaves 1/3 for each teacher. that's if I take my lunch break which I seem to need to do. At least half and hour of it. The other half I spend on a project of some kind - like the video or library or something is always coming up. My tarot reading last night was very clear that I have to manage expectations and take care of myself, too
One of Steve's siblings and his wife are coming over tomorrow for the double bday party. I need to find a present for Shirley really fast. She loves the theatre. Many I can get her tix to something coming up at the Walnut theatre. I will have to check online what;s coming up.
My tarot reading for my job were very accurate. I kept getting the Magician which suggested I would be in a position to use my skills for a lot of innovative activities. Which I have.
I have to schedule two meetings this coming week - one about the video I am making about the school Open House video and one about my new schedule. With 2 hours a day designated for lunch and recess duty, that leaves 1/3 for each teacher. that's if I take my lunch break which I seem to need to do. At least half and hour of it. The other half I spend on a project of some kind - like the video or library or something is always coming up. My tarot reading last night was very clear that I have to manage expectations and take care of myself, too
Newsweek: "at least 13 are dead and 30 wounded in a killing spree that may momentarily remind us of a reality that most Americans can readily forget: soldiers and their families are living, and bending, under a harrowing and unrelenting stress that will not let up any time soon. And the U.S. military could well be reaching a breaking point as the president decides to send more troops into Afghanistan."
No, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was a religious Moslem who chose sides!
He hadn't even be deployed once and had just passed his medical boards. He was a new doc.
No, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was a religious Moslem who chose sides!
He hadn't even be deployed once and had just passed his medical boards. He was a new doc.
I deleted about 30 FaceBook friends today and it feels good not to have those people on anymore. It was mostly high school people I never liked all that much anyway and never commented on my posts, so no loss. There were times the "Committee" in my head would start up telling me mean things about myself that I could imagine them saying. Which is silly, of course. We all have our heads up our own asses and don't pay much attention to other people. But it felt liberating anyway. I felt that way when I refreshed my LJ F-list, too.
If anyone on my LJ wants to be Facebook friends, let me know. You guys I'll keep.
My in-laws are being jack-asses again. They are refusing to RSVP to Sam and Shirley's B-day party this weekend. These are the same people who blacklisted Asher when he was born and refused to come see him. Why we try again and again is beyond me. I think if they don't let us know we should make plans to be somewhere else at the time we gave them and if they show up, well they drove for nothing. But that would be petty.
Slight fever yesterday. Feel better today, just run down. Course that may be because of the Phillies loss. Oh well, the Eagles are doing well. I didn't used to be into sports at all, but lately I just get sucked into my local team's games. I went out and bought the pick, breast cancer support versions of all the jerseys.
If anyone on my LJ wants to be Facebook friends, let me know. You guys I'll keep.
My in-laws are being jack-asses again. They are refusing to RSVP to Sam and Shirley's B-day party this weekend. These are the same people who blacklisted Asher when he was born and refused to come see him. Why we try again and again is beyond me. I think if they don't let us know we should make plans to be somewhere else at the time we gave them and if they show up, well they drove for nothing. But that would be petty.
Slight fever yesterday. Feel better today, just run down. Course that may be because of the Phillies loss. Oh well, the Eagles are doing well. I didn't used to be into sports at all, but lately I just get sucked into my local team's games. I went out and bought the pick, breast cancer support versions of all the jerseys.
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The empire strikes back
In recent weeks, we've taken huge steps towards blocking spam accounts on LiveJournal. In fact, we've suspended as many as 30,000 accounts in a single day! We've implemented several pre-emptive measures to prevent the creation of spam accounts, and we've honed our detection of suspicious content. Spam bots are a crafty lot, so we'll continue to refine our tactics and keep up the good fight to keep you safe from spam attacks on LiveJournal.RSS feeds again
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xkcd_rss, icanhaschzbrgr, or other syndicated feeds, we're pleased to report that we've resolved the update error that was mucking up your RSS feeds. While content was being pulled correctly, it wasn't being posted to the feeds themselves. Late last week, we finally nailed down what we hope was the root problem, so content should post properly. We thank you for your patience. Wii have killer CSI Deadly Intent contests!
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c_s_iIf you're a gamer who loves CSI, have Wii got news for you!
c_s_i is sponsoring killer contests. Simply post a question to a member of the CSI crew. The winner will get a free copy of CSI: Deadly Intent for Nintendo Wii (with a retail value of $39.99) and get their question answered by a member of the CSI writing team! There's also a fantastic monthly contest. To enter, join c_s_i, play the online version of CSI: Deadly Intent, and respond to a two-part query for a chance to win a Wii! Entries will be judged on composition and originality. Sorry, but you must be a U.S. resident and over 18 years old to participate. Check out the rules here. Enveloped in postcards
Last week, we asked you to send in postcards to help us decorate our drab concrete walls. Here's a photo of the results so far! Thank you so much and please keep them coming! You can mail them to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. Be sure to include your username, since we'll be giving ten random users paid account credits.
Photos of the week
If you haven't visited our new LiveJournal photo community, you're in for an amazing visual trip. LiveJournal users from around the world will take you on a scenic journey to everywhere. Post your own pictures or kick back and enjoy atlj_photophile. You can view some of this week's awesome photos after the jump. Please start tagging with geographic location, since we'd like to track all the places around the world represented in this community. Keep on commenting too!( Read more... )
amusedI always thought I should start a journal, but I'm so inconsistent it's laughable. No wonder I can't remember where I've been, much less what I've done. Oh, it's all in there somewhere and ready to draw on when necessary but not written down neatly with drawings and diagrams, line-outs and ink blots. Soooooo, a summer went by and while I may not have missed May I certainly missed summer. I can't remember anything before September, it must have been quite uneventful. I do remember the old timer's party in Aspen and the subsequent high school reunion. I read some of my anecdotes at the party and discovered people actually want to read the whole enchilada but I'm having trouble getting it done as usual! Then I fell and thought I broke my wrist well, my thumb hurts! But after x-rays and more x-rays, the Doc has pronounced me unbroken! So now what? I can't really type comfortably and that means I have an actual excuse not to do anything! If I had my druthers I'd find myself on a beach somewhere soaking up more wrinkles and liver spots, reading poetry and trashy novels, wrapping myself in a long white caftan and devouring exotic meals(which would probably cause me indigestion and no end of sleeplessness!)so there.
After the reunion my husband of 47 years and myself putzed out to Moab, Utah for the second year in a row to see Canyonlands and hike the NBC trail to Morninglory Arch. I used my trekking poles and basically huffed and puffed(which I didn't do last year, so I must be slowing down)all the way, and when we arrived at the end of the trail a group from England was happily rappelling down the wall behind the arch making me feel a bit old, to say the least. One of the Brits said it was actually his first time doing this sort of thing and he was terrified and had to be coaxed the whole way. NBC stands for the now politically incorrect Negro Bill's Canyon, thus NBC. Personally I like the name because it gives credit where credit is due. African American Bill's Canyon just doesn't work and power to the guy if he actually lived there and maybe even discovered it.
After Canyonlands and NBC, both awe inspiring, we drove on to Nine Mile Canyon, a forty mile outdoor art gallery of incredible petroglyphs left there by the Fremont people. The Fremonts are called so by archaeologists though the Ute tribes who've live in the area for centuries wonder aloud who their people are if not descended from the Fremonts?? The Fremonts supposedly moved on but they left a jaw-dropping record of their passing in their renderings of the animals and hunts and their beliefs.
The final week was spent in a time share in Park City(also did that last year)and we soaked in the hot tubs, went to a feast of a brunch in Alta, hiked more, explored Salt Lake and the Mormon Temple and found a Brew Pub, much to Tony's delight. There was an art show of religious inspired works from Mormons around the world which was quite fascinating with artists working in every possible media from oil to watercolor, woodworking to sculpture, collage to quilting, many outstanding works.
That was our vacation and now we're back home and growing older by the minute, which, come to think of it, we've been doing all along!!
After the reunion my husband of 47 years and myself putzed out to Moab, Utah for the second year in a row to see Canyonlands and hike the NBC trail to Morninglory Arch. I used my trekking poles and basically huffed and puffed(which I didn't do last year, so I must be slowing down)all the way, and when we arrived at the end of the trail a group from England was happily rappelling down the wall behind the arch making me feel a bit old, to say the least. One of the Brits said it was actually his first time doing this sort of thing and he was terrified and had to be coaxed the whole way. NBC stands for the now politically incorrect Negro Bill's Canyon, thus NBC. Personally I like the name because it gives credit where credit is due. African American Bill's Canyon just doesn't work and power to the guy if he actually lived there and maybe even discovered it.
After Canyonlands and NBC, both awe inspiring, we drove on to Nine Mile Canyon, a forty mile outdoor art gallery of incredible petroglyphs left there by the Fremont people. The Fremonts are called so by archaeologists though the Ute tribes who've live in the area for centuries wonder aloud who their people are if not descended from the Fremonts?? The Fremonts supposedly moved on but they left a jaw-dropping record of their passing in their renderings of the animals and hunts and their beliefs.
The final week was spent in a time share in Park City(also did that last year)and we soaked in the hot tubs, went to a feast of a brunch in Alta, hiked more, explored Salt Lake and the Mormon Temple and found a Brew Pub, much to Tony's delight. There was an art show of religious inspired works from Mormons around the world which was quite fascinating with artists working in every possible media from oil to watercolor, woodworking to sculpture, collage to quilting, many outstanding works.
That was our vacation and now we're back home and growing older by the minute, which, come to think of it, we've been doing all along!!
- Where am I?:At the computer
- What do I feel?:
grateful - What do I hear?:classical gas!
Confirmed. The old neighbors are back.
- What do I feel?:
torn
Several months back, our next-door neighbors C. & J. put their house on the market for far more than it's worth. After several luckless months, they took it off the market and decided to rent it out instead. Around Equinox, we met M. & A. and their daughter, who had, they said, signed a six-month lease to rent the house.
Sunday, a Local Motion truck pulled up outside the house, and its entire contents emptied. M. looked very displeased. The house sat empty Sunday night. By the time leorathesane came home yesterday evening, the front room was once more chock full of furniture and other hastily piled up housewares. The new neighbors had already moved in.
Except, here's the kicker: there was a child's red plastic wagon outside the house this morning. And while I know that red plastic wagons are fairly common, this one looks an awful lot like the ones that belonged to C. & J. The old neighbors. With whom, if you recall, we did not get along all that well. Might they be back?
Such a fascinating block we live on.
- What do I feel?: curious
I haven't posted over the last week or so and I need to catch up.
*The lesson on Canada went well. My principal watched it and gave me good reviews. I actually gave it twice, the first time I didn't control the class well, the second time was in the other first grade and that's the one she watched.
*I have been tasked with doing a youtube video for the school advertising its open house. I have never done this before and am trying to manage expectations. We'll see how it goes. I think I have enough good clips, now have to figure how to string it together. I have been working through lunch which has to stop.
*I have really gotten into the Phillies this World Series and my 10 year-old stays up till he crashes snuggled up against me.
*I have a teacher's inservice today and I am staying after for one of the conferences.
*The lesson on Canada went well. My principal watched it and gave me good reviews. I actually gave it twice, the first time I didn't control the class well, the second time was in the other first grade and that's the one she watched.
*I have been tasked with doing a youtube video for the school advertising its open house. I have never done this before and am trying to manage expectations. We'll see how it goes. I think I have enough good clips, now have to figure how to string it together. I have been working through lunch which has to stop.
*I have really gotten into the Phillies this World Series and my 10 year-old stays up till he crashes snuggled up against me.
*I have a teacher's inservice today and I am staying after for one of the conferences.
EDIT: If you're reading this, our maintenance is OVER! The problem was not found on our equipment, which means we'll have to work with our ISP to fix this small problem -- which also means another maintenance window in the future -- but at least we have eliminated our side.
Thank you everyone, and a special shout out to![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
rekoil for giving me a great suggestion AND also the opportunity to feel like I've just called in to a local radio station.
Have a great day, night or afternoon wherever you may be.
---
Hi everyone, sorry for the late notice but I'm going to have to do some testing on 1 of our 4 internet circuits TONIGHT; Friday night or Saturday morning depending on which time zone you're in.
Most of us shouldn't notice any impact, though there may be some slowness or lag when I switch traffic on to our other ISP circuits and then another hit when I stop the tests. If a page won't load or times out, try hitting refresh 1 or 2 times and it should load then. If it doesn't work at all... trust me, I'll be typing really really really fast to try to undo whatever I just did. Hopefully you'll have some Halloween candy (if you're in the USA and celebrate that kind of thing) nearby to take away the bitterness of a small site outage. :(
Here's the handy-dandy Website That I Always Use to get a feel for when the maintenance will start in your area. Our site traffic historically dips on Friday afternoons until Saturday morning which is why we tend to pick this time for maintenance work.
( tech details )
status.livejournal.org will, of course be updated before and after the maintenance window. Or elsemarta will get mad at me. :D
bt
Thank you everyone, and a special shout out to
rekoil for giving me a great suggestion AND also the opportunity to feel like I've just called in to a local radio station.Have a great day, night or afternoon wherever you may be.
---
Hi everyone, sorry for the late notice but I'm going to have to do some testing on 1 of our 4 internet circuits TONIGHT; Friday night or Saturday morning depending on which time zone you're in.
Most of us shouldn't notice any impact, though there may be some slowness or lag when I switch traffic on to our other ISP circuits and then another hit when I stop the tests. If a page won't load or times out, try hitting refresh 1 or 2 times and it should load then. If it doesn't work at all... trust me, I'll be typing really really really fast to try to undo whatever I just did. Hopefully you'll have some Halloween candy (if you're in the USA and celebrate that kind of thing) nearby to take away the bitterness of a small site outage. :(
Here's the handy-dandy Website That I Always Use to get a feel for when the maintenance will start in your area. Our site traffic historically dips on Friday afternoons until Saturday morning which is why we tend to pick this time for maintenance work.
( tech details )
status.livejournal.org will, of course be updated before and after the maintenance window. Or else
marta will get mad at me. :Dbt
In response to user comments from last week, we want to let you know that we'll remain LJ cut-free for the next month in order to get more eyeballs on our evolving newsletter. As for product coverage, that continues to be our top priority. For more granular detail, however, we recommend you join
lj_releases.Super-tweak for Yandex search
Some of our beta testers expressed privacy concerns using the Yandex search engine. Here's why: Last week, when you ran a search, you could see the usernames (and only the usernames) of everyone who commented on an entry, even if that entry was switched to Private or Friends Only after it was originally indexed. You could NOT see the actual comments from Friends Only or Private posts. In response to your input, we've implemented a fix to keep all user activity currently marked Friends Only or Private completely hidden. If you'd prefer your public content not to be indexed by Yandex, click here and use the settings labeled Search Inclusion (this covers your entire journal) and/or Comment Search Inclusion (which covers comments only). To test drive Yandex search now, click here.Postcards from the edge
Several years ago, we asked LiveJournal users to send postcards to help us decorate our dull, white-washed offices. Since a good idea warrants repetition, we're at it again (same issue, new address). We hope you'll surround us with LiveJournal love by sending your postcards to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. We'll post snapshots right here. Be sure to include your username, since we'll randomly pick 10 lucky recipients to win free paid account time.Conquer Writer's Block
Here are some excerpts from this week's most popular question of the day:If a friend or relative makes a racist or homophobic remark, do you tend to confront them or let it slide? Are you more likely to confront them if it offends you directly or someone else who seems reluctant to speak up?
- I find it easier to stand up for other people, and i wouldn't let it slide if they made a rude or hurtful comment.
- Usually if a friend makes a racist or homophobic remark, I tend to let it slide. I think that while i would not say such things myself, I have no right to censor those around me.
- This happens all of the time. I confront some relatives, but I refuse to if they are drunk or watch Fox News.
- I'd let it slide if it was just a private remark... As much as I despise bigotry and intolerance, I know that you can't change people-they have to change themselves ...
- Confront! confront! confront! Politely, but without equivocation.
- SPEAK UP. Always, always, always speak up. Letting something slide lets ignorance win. No matter if it offends me directly, or someone else, I will confront the speaker and let them know that's not ok.
- I don't get offended personally. As an immigrant, woman, gay and person of color if I took every single potentially offensive remark seriously I wouldn't get anything done.
- I punch them in the balls. With my mind.
- I do speak up, but often very timidly because I feel that I'm white and therefore I don't really have any authority to lecture someone on what's racist and what isn't...
- Generally speaking, I do not let this shit fly, because it reduces me as a person, to this non-person and it replicates the destructive discourse that makes sure that sexual minorities, racial minorities, women, people with disabilities, trans people and every intersection thereof into something other than human... And sometimes... I'm just too tired to deal with it, so I roll my eyes, make a sarcastic remark and hope the conversation moves on quickly.
writersblock. FYI, we don't want to invade your privacy, so we haven't credited individual users for their responses. We'd appreciate your feedback on this! Spotlight community of the week
We can't resist making one last midnight trip to the ol' pumpkin patch. If you adore crazy costumes, fiendish festivities, and bottomless candy consumption as much as we do, this community has just what it takes to light up your jack-o-lantern.
halloween_fanPhotos of the week
We received so many incredible photos, we had to close our eyes and point. We uploaded a selection of awesome images at our newlj_photophile community. Please join and start posting (try to keep the width at around 625 for the sake of consistency)! We'd love for you to tell us more about your photos! You can help us select spotlight photos by commenting on your favorites. Once again, we thank you for making our online world more beautiful! |
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| shutter | pancetta | ilya_gorokhov |
Curtains
Thanks, again, for tuning in. We look forward to seeing you next week.The ax is falling at work. The board told the admin that they need to cut 70k from the budget in personnell! I was told my job is safe (for now I add). Yowzas. Bad time to loose a job.
On a nicer note, I wrote a fabulous, IMHO, lesson on Canadian and US as unique communities based on Understanding by Design by Wiggins and McTighe. It's all about backward design. Figure out the enduring understandings you want to focus on as plan from that. For my own records. If your a teacher, paruse and comment if you want!
( Read more... )
Students will need to know that
· A flag is a unique symbol of a country
· A country may have two official languages or none at all
· Countries may different governments and leaders
· Countries have their own currency
Students will need to be able to
· Find the United States and Canada on a map of North America
· Distinguish between the flags, number of official languages, leaders and pennies
· Cut out, paste and tape.
What teaching and learning experiences will equip students to demonstrate the enduring understandings?
· As a class we will review the definition of community as taught in their Social Studies curriculum two weeks ago.
· As a class we will list what communities they all belong to, such as their teacher’s class, 1st grade, KBA, their towns, states, country and the Jewish people.
· Orally, students will individually identify another community they belong to and why that is a community, such as soccer or baseball teams, synagogue and/or JCC membership, Scouts etc.
· As a class we will identify and describe and compare the flags, languages, leadership and currency (especially pennies) of each country.
· Students will individually cut out pictures of the flags and leaders and the names of languages, and paste them on the appropriate parts of their maps of North America. Students will tape United States and Canadian pennies on the appropriate parts of their maps.
New Jersey Core Curriculum Standards met:
Standard 6.1.4.A 14: Describe how the world is divided into many nations that have their own governments, languages, customs, and laws
Standard 6.1.4.D 13: Describe how culture is expressed through and influenced by the behavior of people.
Standard 6.1.12.B2 a: Analyze how the United States has attempted to account for regional differences while also striving to create an American identity.
Skills Practiced as listed on the Social Studies Skills Table NJCCS 2009 for K-4
Chronological thinking: Explain how the present is connected to the past.
Spatial Thinking: Determine locations of places and interpret information available on maps and globes; Use thematic maps and other geographic representations to obtain, describe, and compare spatial patterns and information about people, places, regions, and environments.
Presentational Skills: Use evidence to support an idea in a written and/or oral format.
Profile
- eleisabelle
- Maniacal laughter
This and that
"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking successive autumns." ~George Eliot
"Those who dwell... among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life... Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction." ~Rachel Carson