I love this. I love this so much that I’m going to watch this clip each and every time I have a tough day. He is giving the keynote address to some 20,000-plus educators and fans for the Dallas Independent School District.

Dalton, thank you.

Mother on Fire. Funny interview — give it a read.

Am smart and talented. Just figured out how to 1) register as a post-bac (undergrad) student in the hopes of 2) finishing my pre-requisites and 3) registering for grad school. (To obtain teaching license and Media Specialist degree.)

(Will assume no GREs are required, but some other, simpler test instead. Maybe involving writing a blog post and posting it. With a Twitter sample on the side. Maybe 3 or 4 recipes, added on to packet. Sure.)

(Yes, it is nice up there in my brain, with the fairies, cupcakes and sparkles.)

Also figured out how to 4) register for an online course (four credits, one of the pre-reqs) and 5) order the books I need for it, too. All online! Why would you ever want to leave the house? It only took six people holding my hand (over e-mail and phone) and answering my questions to complete all this. Dear God, what am I thinking?

love,

wm

random bullets for my Thursday 13:

1) Iowa is settling down. Now it’s everyone along the Mississippi we need to worry about. Life is getting too crazy, weather-wise, with the tornadoes and flooding and fires and whatnot. (If you want to see a YouTube video of the “Book Brigade,” look here.)

2) It’s my birthday next week. (more…)

When’s the last time I wrote a Thursday Thirteen, anyway? Ah, well. And it hasn’t been a “real” year of teaching, it’s only been a few months. If you will recall, dear readers, as of last September we were considering moving across town. Changed our minds, unpacked the cartons, and I got myself a job at our neighborhood school. I’m working in the library, and how I got there is a kind of long story, so I’ll cut to the chase. Here is what I’ve found out in the last few months: (more…)

You know why I love my children’s teachers? They are smarter than I am. Yes, sir. They truly are. And as a mom who loves the hours between 8:45 and 3 p.m., I really liked this post. Bring on the free cheese.

One of my students was digging through the yarn basket today (I check out books! and knit with the students! This is my dream job) and found the teensiest, tiniest beetle on one of the balls of yarn. She was thrilled.

She carefully took him and re-located him outside. I love her for doing this. So, this one is for my student (and I know you’re not supposed to have favorites, but this kid is one of my favorites):

“Nothing is more humbling than to look with a strong magnifying glass at an insect so tiny that the naked eye sees only the barest speck and to discover that nevertheless it is sculpted and articulated and striped with the same care and imagination as a zebra. Apparently it does not occur to nature whether or not a creature is within our range of vision, and the suspicion arises that even the zebra was not designed for our benefit.”

— Rudolf Arnheim, psychologist and author (1904-2007)

Have you seen this site? It’s a direct way for teachers to get cash donated for specific projects — in this case, copies of “The Stranger,” by Camus, for a class of high school seniors. (Another plug for my family’s neighborhood high school.)

If you have a little to spare, please do. And please pass the website address along to any educators you may know who need a bit of extra help.

ps — it’s still raining here. Happy Thursday.

pss — edited later to say: the kids are getting their books! The project has been fully funded. In one day. Cool. Thank you to all who helped.

Hmm. Want to know what I did tonight? First I took my daughter to tap dance. Her tap-dancing grandmother will be thrilled when I tell her. Then we came home and had a fast dinner, and drove over to Jefferson High School for a little meeting.

A meeting that numerous parents decided to boycott, so guess who was there? That’s right. Me. Hockey God. And three other parents. That makes — five parents. And three kids (who raced around our table like crazy hooligans, but mainly behaved. Thank you, kids. Here’s a cooky.)

Who was there, besides us and the kids? Oh, about fifteen, or possibly it was twenty-eight, Portland Public Schools administrators and staff. Again — hmm. Some of you would be a little, I don’t know, freaked out by this. Or perhaps you would boycott and say You should have given us more notice nyah nyah. (I heard about the meeting last week, as did some other parents.)

Anyhow, you are not me, and that’s what makes me Wacky Mommy and makes you… I dunno. Grouchy and blog-less? (Ha! Triple ha ha ha!) (Pours herself a triple espresso. Thinks about her manuscript that she will work on later tonight, dammit. Or possibly tomorrow.)

First, I listened to The Administrators and Staff. Then, they listened to me (and Hockey God, and the other parents.) Then we all had a cooky. (I brought a large bowl of chocolate crinkle cookies with me. Chocolate crinkles, how I adore you. That is the recipe I used, that I just linked to. It’s deluxe.)

Hmm. Where was I? Yes. Then I listened to them, they listened to me, they listened to the other parents, we listened to them again and we made a nice big list of:

What We Want For Jefferson High School

It turns out we all want the same things. Who knew? Then we had another cooky, then we all went home. If you’d like to talk about this, you can send me an e-mail, or leave a note in comments. Better yet, drop a note to the school and cc the district.

Regards,

WM

PS — There was some talk of building an ice hockey rink at the school, for my husband and son, but no promises.

UPDATED 10 a.m. Monday morning…
wm

The meeting scheduled for Monday evening (Dec. 17th) at Jefferson High IS taking place. Community members will have a chance to discuss educational opportunities at Jefferson with district and Jefferson representatives

The meeting on Tuesday, December 18 with Superintendent Smith at PPS district headquarters (501 N. Dixon) will also take place.

A Conversation With Carole Smith

Please join Portland PTA Council for a conversation with Superintendent Carole Smith about the future of PPS schools. Where are the challenges and opportunities for our PPS community? How can parents connect with the district and best advocate for our kids? What is going well or not so well at your school? How can PPS better meet your students’ and schools’ needs?

When: Tuesday, December 18
7:00 pm

Where: PPS District Offices
Blanchard Building Atrium
501 N. Dixon
Portland, 97217

Coffee and dessert will be served!

RSVP or direct any questions to Russ Albertson, President, Portland Council PTA, ralbertsonlegend at hotmail dot com