I'm going to practice patience. Yes I will.

Practice patience

People who cause you problems also give you something of real and lasting positive value. They provide you with the opportunity to practice and build your patience.

Patience is a profoundly powerful and useful thing to have. It can bring real value into your life in almost any situation.

With patience, you can achieve a thousand times more than what you could achieve without it.

With patience, you can listen, learn, work and prosper instead of lashing out at every frustration.

Patience enables you to see and to experience rich treasures that you otherwise would have missed completely. Patience gives you the ability to forge deep and meaningful connections with others.

Practice patience, and you avoid costly careless mistakes.

Live with patience, and you have the persistence to create great things.

Be truly thankful for each opportunity you receive to strengthen your patience. For it will surely bring new richness to your life.

-- Ralph Marston

We were second place for best attendance this month. Very nice! If only the naughty kids were absent. NO such luck. Intersession stuff is done! Only 15 kids haven't turned in their permission slips. That's amazing! We're going to have LOTS of kids attending intersession. Hopefully, they'll all show up...or else we won't get reimbursed. That would not be very nice.

Applause to Team Kindergarten and especially
Carmen and Erika for a great parent workshop!
I was so happy to see so many parents in
attendance. Parents left with a better idea of what
their children are learning and how they can help
them become successful learners! Great job!

Don't get creeped out by all the Menudo stuff. It's just all in good fun. I got this picture from the website latingossip.com ~ enjoy!!

Last week I was at a meeting with a mix of principals (elementary, middle, and high school). We usually don't meet together. One of the middle school principals mentioned that he decided to keep track of the number of conversations he has every day. He did this for a whole week. He averaged about 30 conversations a day. Seems like a low number to me. Seems like all I do all day is talk. Some conversations are seconds and some can last up to a half hour. I'm sure today I had at least 50 conversations. I especially enjoy my playground conversations with kids...NOT!!!! (Well, mostly NOT!!!) It seems that when I'm on the playground, the kids en masse run up to me to tell me who pushed them, called them a name, looked at them funny, won't let them play basketball with them, touched their backpack, took their pencil, who in their class has been naughty, who their teacher yelled at, who didn't do their homework, etc... Of course I try to solve all their problems and concerns. I should be very happy that they trust me enough to bring me their problems. I just wish we could do something more to lessen the number of problems.

Treasure Moment Report: Yesterday I was hanging out with Mrs. K at the benches (another treasure moment) when one of her afterschool students came up to us and out of the blue starting acting out animals and asked us to guess what animal he was. It was such a cute and delightful moment. For that brief moment all the stress and weight of the day was gone. I just wanted to grab him and hug him and tell him thank you for making me smile.

I'm happy to report that my refridgerator wasn't stolen. Very nice. It should be good to go for another three years or so.

I'm totally shocked that no one knew the Wizard TV! artist of the day, Menudo. I thought they were huge back in the 80s. Personally, I wasn't into Menudo, honest. I was into Flock of Seagulls, Duran Duran, Adam Ant, Culture Club, Fine Young Cannibals...basically all the new wave stuff on KROQ. Remember Richard Blade? I was thinking about Menudo because MTV Tres is going to have a reality type show were they choose the "new" Menudo. American Idol with a latin flavor. If I were only 25 years younger...

I have to make a confession...I stopped at Starbucks today for coffee...I know...I know...but I only bought the small one...I needed some major caffeine this afternoon...

The refridgerator in my office is so disgusting. I haven't cleaned it out since I moved in. The little freezer in it has collected so much ice that the door won't close. So today I unplugged it and took it outside to defrost. I hope it doesn't get stolen. If some one manages to jump the fence, stumble upon the refridgerator, toss the refridgerator over the fence, then jump over the fence again...then I guess they deserve to have it.

WARNING: The following post includes graphic and crude language and may offend sensitive readers.

This morning one of the kids came up to me to tell me that one of his "friends" was saying inappropriate things to him (talking about what happens in porn movies). He also told me this talk was making him feel very uncomfortable. I told him that I didn't blame him at all for feeling uncomfortable. This kind of talk is totally inappropriate at school. I thanked him for telling me about this and assured him that I would take care of it immediately. At recess I had a little chat with the alleged harasser. He was adamant that he doesn't watch porn, he doesn't know anything about porn, what is porn? He had the total innocent look on his face. He's kind of a weird, creepy kid so I'm not sure if it was the truth or not. Probably not. So I decide to warn him (in a very serious tone). I told him that if he's talking about porn that's sexual harassment and that I'd have to kick him out of the school and I might have to send someone to his house to see if he has access to porn. He didn't like that at all. He listened and I'm sure he got my point. At lunch, his friend, the alleged harassee, told me that he needed to talk to me again. He had a very serious look on his face, he looked troubled. So of course I drop everything to listen. He told me that he doesn't like to "rat" out his friends, but he's upset that the alleged harasser said something really bad about me. My ears perked up, I was very curious, how could anyone say something bad about me? So I asked him what was said. He didn't want to tell me. I was thinking it must be really bad. After a few more probes, he told me that the alleged harasser said that he "fucking hates me." I told the alleged harassee kid that I'm sure there are a lot of people who hate me and that it doesn't really hurt my feelings if someone hates me. He was kind of shocked to hear that. I also told him that I appreciated that he cared enough about my feelings to tell me about this.

What a day! I don't know what I'd do without Cheryl and Clarissa! Thanks for all of the help today (and everyday)! The day ended with a TERRIFIC Buy Back! I thoroughly enjoyed every minute. Great teaching, lots of active participation, time for reflection...absolutely fantastic! Our talent cup overfloweth!!!

Today was a busy day! My evaluation visit went pretty well. I have a couple things to work on...but that's ok. There's always room for improvement. I was a bit nervous having the boss on Wizard TV! this morning. I was sputtering and stuttering a little bit more than normal. I'm glad the Wizard was on his best behavior. He can be a bit unpredicatable at times. I'm so glad I made it to journalism today. I've missed the last two weeks. Not good. Hopefully we'll have a paper out soon!!! I hope it's a relatively calm week.

At this moment I'm imagining myself under this tree...no phone calls...no email...no interruptions...

Sometimes dealing with all the discipline issues is very depressing and draining. In between dealing with discipline calls for service there are beautiful "treasure moments." Today a couple girls came up to me on the playground to ask me if they could wear high heels tomorrow for picture day. I told them "no, high heels aren't safe for school." I asked them if they could see their shoes in any of their past school pictures. They said no. So then I told them it wasn't necessary to wear heels. The lightbulbs clicked on. They giggled and scampered away. Treasure moment.

WOO HOO!! My 75th post!!

A few months ago (I think it was a few months ago, it might be weeks) we (me, Sherrie, Shirley) attended the dynamic and enthralling Reading First Summit. Six hours, three speakers. Good times. The last speaker, Dr. Maria Elena Arguelles, was fantastic. She talked about vocabulary instruction for all learners. It was great stuff. She also talked a little about reading aloud. I'm a HUGE fan of reading aloud. I wish I could make a living just by reading aloud. Anyway, this is what she had to say about reading aloud:

• Reading aloud can provide a level of lexical difficulty that extends beyond every conversational language.
• These benefits persist beyond the age when children are capable of reading independently.
• Teacher read alouds should be roughly two or three grade levels about the students.
• Moreover, significant chunks of time (20 minutes) should be devoted to discussion after each read aloud.
• Students who participate in read alouds conducted in small groups, understand and recall story elements better than in large groups.

I think it's perfectly ok to read a book to kids that is at their level or even slightly below their level. Especially if we're also using the book as a touchstone or mentor text. It's perfectly fine to read a picture book to a group of fifth graders...they love it! We may have a teaching purpose attached to a read aloud, but it's ok to have a read aloud just to hear a wonderfully written story that may also have really neat pictures. That's my two cents.

Lucy and I are going to read this book. It looks good.

I'll summarize it for you. Or you can read it with us.

Not too many treasure moments today. Just about the only treasure moment was going to It's a Grind for coffee. Today I organized the intersession classes and filled out all of the permission slips. I wasn't able to place about 15 kids. I should have finished this last week, but I was waiting for people to turn in their lists. I also started to work on perfect attendance. I probably won't be able to finish that until next week. I still have lots to do tomorrow.

I hate cats. But I love this book! The look on
Mr. Pusskins' face is CLASSIC! Buy this book!

Today was a day filled with "Treasure Moments." The first "Treasure Moment" occurred when a first grader came up to me in the office and flashed his five dollar bill asking if he could buy a Dr. Seuss hat. I had to tell him that we were sold out. The saddest look covered his face. So I told him I would sell him my hat for $20. Just kidding. I actually gave him my hat. He was so happy! His happiness made me happy. The next "Treasure Moment" was our Read Across America celebration. It was such a joy to see all the kids in their bought or made Dr. Seuss hats. Such a beautiful picture. Plus, I knew for the 30 minutes or so of the assembly they couldn't get into any trouble. Poster contest winners were announced. The Reader's Oath was said. The fifth graders sang their song. Very nice. During the day, I had a chance to read to three classrooms. I read Ugly Fish and Mr. Pusskins, A Love Story. I LOVE those books. I LOVE reading books to kids. Too bad there isn't any money in that gig. True "Treasure Moments."