AuburnChick's Adventures

Hola fellow Hodgepodgers!  I hope you’re having a lovely week!  I’m enjoying the delayed start, with the holiday we had on Monday.  That means a four-day work week, which nobody can complain about, eh?  Let’s get to Joyce’s fun questions!

1.  What’s the biggest change since your childhood in the way people think or act?

I think we live in an age when many more things have become permissible and accepted.  Our morals continue to decline, and we see things on TV and in public that we never would have seen in the 70’s and 80’s, when I was growing up.  The sexual lyrics in music, and the foul language and overt sexual stuff in television and movies make it difficult to enjoy much in the way of media.  I simply refuse to spend my money or give my attention to such garbage.  Even mainstream magazines join in.  I just received my weekly issue of Sports Illustrated and was extremely disappointed by the front cover…half-naked rear ends.  I usually take my magazines into my classroom for students to look at because of the informational text; however, I will not be taking this issue.  It’s going straight to the garbage.

The bad thing is that having a conservative view is seen by many people as being intolerant.  I’m not quite sure when having morals and believing in the Bible became “intolerant.”  It’s disappointing and disheartening.

2.  The Olympic Biathlon involves cross country skiing broken up with either two or four rounds of target shooting. Which part of that would stress you out more? Or would you love them both equally?

I think the target shooting would stress me out the most because my aim is not very good, nor is my eye-hand coordination.

3.  February is National Canned Food Month…what is your most often purchased canned food item?  What was in the last can you opened?

I most often open canned tomatoes.  Being a vegan, I cook with tomatoes constantly.  I opened a few cans of them last week when I made a tomato-artichoke spaghetti dinner.  Yum!

4.  What river (anywhere in the world) would you most like to cruise?

I’ve never really given rivers much thought, preferring to keep my feet on solid ground; however, after a quick Google search, I think I’d like to travel down the Nile.  I’ve read so much about it in the Bible, so to get to see the part of world in which civilization was born would be a tremendous experience.

Photo courtesy of this site: http://www.touropia.com/most-important-rivers-in-the-world/

5.  It’s the middle of the night and you can’t sleep…what do you do? Count sheep? Toss and turn? Watch television? Or do you get up and do something productive?

I rarely have trouble sleeping, but on the few nights when I’ve been unable to sleep, I’ve found myself getting up and jumping on the computer to be the thing I do.  I will usually work on lesson plans or do some blogging in the wee hours when sleep eludes me.

6.  How important is keeping your cool?

Oh goodness, but as a teacher, keeping my cool is vitally important.  It’s also extremely challenging.  Not only do I face sixty different personalities each day, I find myself struggling for composure in the midst of a very stressful load…that of helping my students pass our state reading assessment…a requirement for graduation.  My students often think I’m in a bad mood when, in reality, I’m thinking of all of the things we need to accomplish…things that weigh heavily on my mind.  This makes keeping my cool difficult.  But I do my best, knowing that I need to model self control for my students who are trying to mature and seeking good role models in the process.

7.  I’ve got white stuff on the brain so why not run with it? White lie, wave the white flag, white knuckle it, white wash a situation, or white as a sheet…which phrase could most recently apply to your own life in some way?

I’m currently white-knuckling it with the demands of my job.  On Tuesday, my students will be taking FCAT Writes, the state writing assessment administered to 4th, 8th, and 10th graders.  Teaching writing and reading this year has been hard.  I love to write (a big DUH there), and I love teaching it, but being responsible for my students passing TWO state assessments is incredibly stressful and makes me feel as though I’m on some sort of white water rafting adventure.

8.  My Random Thought

I’ve been reading my way through the I am Number 4 book series.  Although I didn’t like the author’s style in the first book (it was a bit juvenile), I kept at it and just finished the fourth book.  A student originally recommended this series to me after he read the first book.  I wound up buying the entire set for my classroom.  Then, I discovered two novellas, which I also purchased.

They arrived on Monday, and when I took them into school on Tuesday, you should have seen the look on my students’ faces.  I say “students” because after seeing me read one of the books, a student in a different class (not the student who originally recommended the books to me) began reading them.  He read through the first three books quickly and was chomping at the bit to get book #4, which I was just about finished reading.  When I handed him one of the novellas, his eyes lit up, and he read it during silent reading time that day.  I wish you could have heard him holler, “Oh man, this is WILD!”  I guess I’ll be reading these later.

Filed under: This-n-That | Tagged: I am Number 4, Wednesday Hodgepodge |