Christopher Lee

The Boy just saw Christopher Lee at our favorite Liquor Store. The Boy asked if I wanted to go with him, but I decided to stay home and sweep instead. Grr.

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The Difference between playing Super Mario Bro 3 when you are 9 and when you are 26.

When I started this blog one of things I read was to stick to your topic. My topic; teaching and learning in a nutshell. I will try my best to follow this rule. However, since its summer, other things are going to creep in. Starting with Video Games!

The Boy and I bought each other a Wii for our respective birthdays. We had thought about getting one for awhile and this month when we both realized we both still wanted one, we went for it. Wii sports came with it and we bought Mario Party 8 as well. I'm open for suggestions for other great games as I've been out of the gaming world for a really long time. (As in since 1998 when I fell in love with Spyro the Dragon!) Though I do dabble in the world of Spore every once in awhile these days.

The other great thing about getting a Wii and having a boyfriend who is a computer engineer is that you can hack the Wii. I would never have ventured into the hacking by myself, but The Boy is a genius. We now have emulators (for those of you that aren't as geeky as him, they pretend to be the older consoles) for Ninetendo, Super Ninetindo and Sega. We might even be able to get a Playstation 1 emulator as well, so that I can play Spyro again! eeeeee!

When I was a kid, my brother and I spent a lot of time at the Hinsdale Youth Center. Not sure what that place looks like now but when we used to spend our time in the building there was a pool room, (like billards, not swimming) a game room with free arcade games and nintendos and a gym upstairs where you could play organized games.

In the game room there were about seven nintendos with an assortment of games that kids could play. There was always a line and whenever you "died" and you had to give your spot up to whoever was waiting. The kids like my brother, born to be gamers, were in there the whole day. I would try to play every once in awhile, but mostly hung in out in the gym and pool room.

When I did get to play Nintendo at the HYC, on slow days, I loved playing Super Mario Bros 3. Sometimes my brother would come over and give me tips and show me shortcuts, but mostly it was just me playing those first world levels over and over. With The Hack we can play Super Mario Bros 3.

I was playing by myself yesterday while The Boy was at work and had a good laugh. I couldn't believe how much I remembered from those first two levels. Also funny is how different it is to play as an adult.

TV: At the age of nine I played on old TVs (even old for that time) where you pulled a button out to turn the TV on and spun it for the volume. At the age of 26, I play on a beautifully large flat screen TV with a remote!

Volume: At the age of nine, at the HYC you either had to keep your TV on mute or very low so that it didn't distract the kids playing next to you. At the age of 26, I'm in my own house and so can play it as loud as I damn well please. It's extra fun that way.

Seating: At the age of nine I played on school chairs, plastic and easy to clean, but very uncomfortable after about 20 minutes. (This is why I make my students move around all day.) At the age of 26, I sit on The Boy's big blue cushy couch. I can even lean back and use the head rest.

Controller: At the age of nine, the controllers were sticky after months of being in use, I learned to hit the button a split second before I actually had to. I had to sit really close to the TV because the cord connecting the controller to the TV wasn't very long. At the age of 26, not only are controllers unsticky, they are also wireless!

Snacks: At the age of nine, I used to buy a bag of chips or M & Ms and sit there munching while I played. At the age of 26, I have my own kitchen and food stash. Before playing yesterday, I chopped up the whole melon we got in our CSA (community supported agriculture) box and munched in between moments of death (which there were many because now with unsticky controllers I'm always hitting the button too early) and reloading.

Play time: At the age of nine, I usually had other nine year old boys breathing down my neck while I was playing, waiting for their turn. (No wonder I played so badly.) At the age of 26, I can play when I want. (And its sexy when The Boy breathes down my neck!)

Aaahh, the sweet smells of summer!

I'm so glad its over. So very glad. The last day went relatively smoothly. In the morning I sent some of the kids to the first grade classroom to help that teacher pack her things (first graders aren't very good at that!) I had sent kids to Kindergarten the day before as well. Then, they watched a bit of Monster's INC and then we joined up with fourth grade to go to the park.

I brought my towel for a blanket and camped out on the grass with Sophie for the three hours we were there, every twenty minutes or so I would get up and make sure my nine students were still inside the park. It was sunny with clouds and not too hot, there were trees, grass and shade so it was very nice. Some of the other teachers had brought kites, balls, bats and frisbees for the kids to share. The organized chaos was quite bearable. The Boy brought me lunch on the motorcycle. Twas lovely.

We got back to school with about two hours to go and watched "The Amazing Panda Adventure with the fourth grade. Cosmo had been giving me trouble day, disrespectful comments, whining, refusal to follow directions, the works. But it came to a head during the movie. He had been sitting quietly watching the movie for about an hour next to Allen on one side of the room. Cassie and Fiona were on the other side of the room reading books and picking their heads up only at the action parts. One second I look over and Cosmo is next to Allen, the next he's shoved himself up next to Cassie and Fiona and has started talking to them. I asked him nicely (even used the word 'please') to move back to where he was sitting for two reasons; 1, he has been smothering Fiona lately and 2. Everything was quiet before he moved. He refused and I asked him again, he refused, then said he would and then didn't move. I tried one more time. Nothing. Sophia popped up and said, "That's it. You stand up right now and come with me." And out of class he went for a stern talking to.

I know that Fiona said that she talked her mother into letting her go to ADLR next year for seventh grade but I'm afraid that she'll change her mind over the summer and I won't ever see her again. So after every one was dismissed I gave her my email address and told her to keep in touch and that I was really proud of what she had done this year. She gave me a big hug and promised to get in touch. I hope hope she does. I would hate to lose track of her.

It really was great to come home that day. Wheww. I'm really looking forward to classes starting this summer. I can't wait to be on the other side of the desk for a change. I hope the summer camp with Sophia goes off without a hitch. We have one trip planned for the end of the summer and perhaps even a drive to Roswell (no alien stuff without you Grant, I promise!) to see my first roommate from college, Ben's parents are coming down to visit and revel in their beautiful house. It should be a really nice two months.

Next week I'm working with an education consulting firm that I love. I was introduced to the woman who runs it, Marta (not real name) during my E.A. year when she hired me to write some of the Social Studies curriculum that we use now. These workshops are going to be a Standards Based Checklist that she created for teachers to easily track what their students know according to the state standards during the course of a year. I love them. I really wish ADLR used them. On Monday, I'll be speaking at a pueblo school and on Tuesday for two other charter school in the city. I've done five or six workshops for her now. I'm almost not even nervous!

Done!

Huzzah! Finished! More tomorrow!