April 19, 2013

Today was another good day. I slept in an extra twenty minutes or so because I went to bed way past my bedtime last night due to picking up popcorn. I don't think the twenty minutes helped but it was still nice.

The catalyst behind the popcorn was for the kindergarteners to eat for snack, so my mom took two small trash bags of it. It was easier to divide it that way than to try to get it out of the big bag at school. I left the big bag in the lounge and sent out an email telling everyone that if they smelled popcorn, there wasn't anything wrong with them, but I hadn't brought burnt toast so if the smelled that they shouldn't be a hero, they should tell someone.

I also sent an email to the principal, responding to her email that asked if anyone wanted to be on an interview panel. I said that I did so I could ask potential new teachers about their attitude toward iPads. And what their favorite color is.

We had a character trait assembly this morning and as usual my para friend and I put away the majority of the chairs, with some help from the principal and one of the kindergarten teachers. The custodian showed up and directed the placement of maybe the last four chairs.

I read with kindergarteners this morning, helped out in one literacy center, and had my second grade reading group. They were still pretty obnoxious. In thirty minutes we looked up the definitions for five words, read three pages in the book, and one kid managed to write more than his name, date, and title of the book on his reflection sheet. Not a lot of progress.

I only had a few couple classes in the lab today so I spent a lot of time on my Mario thing. I managed to finish all of World 1-1, except for a few clouds. I think I might add in some of the birds from Duck Hunt. Then I want to start on Galaga above the Mario sky and Dig Dug below the bricks. Or maybe something entirely different. Or nothing at all.

I also went and hung out in the kindergarten room for awhile and got to see an old episode of Reading Rainbow. That was a great show. My sister and I used to watch it over at my paternal grandparent's house. And Laurel And Hardy at my maternal grandparent's house. Both very educational.

It was an interesting day in terms of school politics today. The principal emailed out earlier this week that she would be hiring new fifth and sixth grade teachers. The one sixth grade teacher got a new job next year so she needs to be replaced. I also think one of the fifth grade teachers plans on moving up to sixth grade (so we will have two sixth grade teachers next year instead of one) and his fifth grade position will need to be filled. Today, the other fifth grade teacher announced that he would be retiring, which means now there is a need for two fifth grade teachers. The librarian, who used to be a teacher, expressed interest earlier in the year of going back to teacher fifth grade. Which would cover one of those positions but leave the librarian position open. And apparently the elementary librarian position is going to be phased out after next near and become a media specialist or something. Several teachers were talking about this at lunch and apparently at least a few of them think that would be perfect for me. It would be more responsibility and more money, which would be nice, and it would be closer to what I actually want to do. That is all speculation right now though and I don't think I could even be considered for that job, but it is fun to think about it all. Also, there has been talk for months about my para friend becoming a fifth grade teacher because a lot of people though the one fifth grade teacher would be retiring (which he is). And if the librarian went back to teaching fifth grade, she would be a good mentor for my para friend. But yeah, all speculation.

After work I wanted to take a nap and I think I may have gotten a tiny one. It kind of felt like I was just laying there but I think I dozed of at least a little bit. At the theater tonight I continued reading The Book Of The Dead and started reading Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt, which is the next book club book. I also watched Oblivion, the new Tom Cruise movie. I liked it but I wasn't surprised by that because I tend to like Tom Cruise movies. At least the ones I have seen. Oblivion was a proper sci-fi movie. It was a combination of The Matrix, The Island, and Independence Day. And I liked the ending. And the two lead actresses were attractive (I think I would pick Victoria, though).

Tomorrow morning there is an employee meeting but I don't think I will be going. In twelve years I have missed three meetings. One when I was in Europe, one when I was in Colorado, and one that I didn't know about. Might as well add a fourth to that.