Mom and Dad's Bon Voyage Party

Student Responses

I came across this web page today. It catalogues student answers and essays on tests.

http://www.flixprod.com/bloopers.html

I'm not sure if they're real, and I am seriously concerned if they are. Enjoy them anyway!

Here are some of my favorites:
"Blood flows down one leg and up the other."
"The pistol of a flower is its only protections agenst insects."
"A fossil is an extinct animal. The older it is, the more extinct it is."
"Delegates from the original thirteen states formed the Contented Congress. Thomas Jefferson, a Virgin, and Benjamin Franklin were two singers of the Declaration of Independence. Franklin had gone to Boston carrying all his clothes in his pocket and a loaf of bread under each arm. He invented electricity by rubbing cats backwards and declared, "A horse divided against itself cannot stand." Franklin died in 1790 and is still dead."
"The sun never set on the British Empire because the British Empire is in the East and the sun sets in the West. Queen Victoria was the longest queen. She sat on a thorn for 63 years. Her reclining years and finally the end of her life were exemplatory of a great personality. Her death was the final event which ended her reign."
"Without the Greeks we wouldn't have history. The Greeks invented three kinds of columns - Corinthian, Doric, and Ironic. They also had myths. A myth is a female moth. One myth says that the mother of Achilles dipped him in the River Stynx until he became intollerable. Achilles appears in The Iliad, by Homer. Homer also wrote The Oddity, in which Penelope was the last hardship that Ulysses endured on his journey. Actually, Homer was not written by Homer but by another man of that name."

*sigh...

11 more weeks of "How to be a teacher" classes...and then, the real education begins.
....not that I'm counting down the days.....

Illiteracy...a beloved pastime

I'm starting classes again tonight. I wish I could work up some enthusiasm for it, but unfortunately, my heart's just not in it. I've been pouring all my energy into school for the last two semesters. Thankfully, this fall will be my last semester of coursework. I just have 4 short months before I can actually write real lesson plans instead of plugging learning objectives into a pre-determined and useless template.

This semester, I'm taking Psychology, Sociology, English, and a Physics Ed. Independent Study. I'm also the grad assistant for a neat science class for in-service elementary teachers. At least all my classes meet only once a week. That will help quite a bit.

For the past three weeks, I've been enjoying my only break from school since January. The first week, I still had to tell myself that I didn't forget to do my homework and that I didn't have any reading to do. The second week of freedom was marvelous. And during the third week, I've been trying not to get used to decadent laziness. *sigh...

It's been quite nice, the last few weeks. I'd forgotten how fun educational illiteracy can be. I haven't read anything except books I wanted to read. I haven't written anything more than an email, which is why the blog has been quiet for so long. And I haven't worried about checking my email so much. I once went three whole days without checking. Bliss.

But I'm now going back to the stressful reality of school, doing what all students do. I'm wishing that it will be over as quickly and painlessly as possible. So, here I am, holding my breath, clenching my teeth and preparing to rip off the dratted band-aid once again.

Shipping Out

We just found out when Jeremy will be sworn in and shipped out. He will be sworn in on August 13th in Norfolk. He will be shipped out for OCS (we think to Rhode Island) on September 29th. It's a little sooner than we thought, which comes with its typical benefits and hindrances. Jeremy is just happy that it's finally moving along. All-in-all, things are pretty exciting!

Life after Harry Potter...

Is there life after Harry Potter? I confess; I anxiously awaited the final installment of the series. I pre-ordered my copy. I speculated and theorized with my fellow HP fans. I read the last book in less than ten hours, greedily pouring over it's chapters while unabashedly ignoring my husband. And then it was over...

I'm not sure what I was expecting. I finished reading an incredible story and I was...sad. Even though there was a happy ending (relatively speaking), I mourned after the fact. There's no more speculations and theories to share. No longer can we have heated debates over dinner about what the last Horcrux is. It's just...over. The end of a story. Life goes on...

We're In!

We just found out that Jeremy's application for the Navy was accepted! He's going to be a Cryptology Officer, which is exactly what he wanted. We are so excited! We don't know any of the details yet, like when he ships out to OCS, but we will have some say in when that is.

I've really got to start learning some other languages! I hope we land in Italy!

I'll keep you posted!

Begin Life Here...

We attended Donovan's graduation from Deep Creek High School last night. It was a pleasant and blessedly speedy process. Donovan was quite proud of his diploma and is ready to take on the world. Yippee for class of 2007!

Learning to Teach

I'm about halfway finished with my Masters in Education. I'm taking some teaching courses this summer on curriculum and classroom management. These are important things to know, but I confess, I just don't understand what the big deal is. Maybe I will when I become a teacher and I realize that I've been harboring false confidence this whole time. I have no doubt that teaching is a challenging and frustrating profession. I get that, and I'm rightfully scared. I also understand why it's important to be as prepared as possible. But, I find myself sitting in these classrooms, listening to people preach from their soap boxes on the joy and hardship of teaching, all the while thinking, "ok, when am I going to start learning something useful."

It's not that I don't appreciate the classes. Every now and then, I pick up something that I think will be helpful to me when I start teaching. For the most part, however, I'm sitting there trying not to look bored and disrespectful.

There is a lot of reading and discussion involved in these classes. I don't mind the reading so much. Some of it is pretty useful, most of it's a waste of time, but I try not to pay attention to that aspect. But it seems to me that I could simply read the material and forego class and still finish well. Besides the fact that the teacher has experience, I see little need for him. I haven't taken a course yet that hasn't covered verbatim the chapters in the book. There's not a whole lot of ingenuity. Maybe that's just how teaching courses go. I miss my physics classes.

Maybe that's why I'm having a hard time adapting to teaching courses. I spent five years living, eating, and breathing physics. Physics is hard and has a higher level of critical thinking required. I'm still in that mindset. Teaching courses don't require that you figure out how to solve a problem or run an experiment on your own. In fact, it's designed in such a way that there is very little guesswork. There are decades of documented theories, practices, lesson plans, and ideas on teaching that have been accumulated for the next generation. I guess teachers are better at documenting than scientists. Not much of a surprise there. I suppose I have to wait until I start teaching before I understand completely.

Yay!

Not that we're counting, but we're moving in 10 days! Jeremy and I are so excited. We're packed up for the most part, we've gotten rid of half of our furniture (so we can buy new!), and we've started to deep clean.

Jeremy still hasn't left a blog post yet. I'm working on him. I am the document-er of the family. I still have birthday cards from 16 years ago. So, Jeremy - get your gears moving and leave something for the preservation of...stuff.

General Happiness

We had a great weekend! We saw a few movies, packed a little, visited friends, ate a lot of ice cream, and unloaded a ton of unwanted furniture on said friends :-). I just found out that I got a 4.0 for the past semester. I'm totally siked about that! It's the first time for me and I worked really hard for it. I also got published for the third time. Yay!

We finally saw "The Pursuit of Happyness" which is an incredible film. We loved it. We also saw "Stranger than Fiction" which surprised us; it was actually good.

We did see Spiderman 3, which sucked, so don't waste your money. It was 'the movie that would never end any of it's spliced plot lines.' We spent most of the movie completely bored. It was cheesy, which was the only thing going for it.

I got to see my nephew-by-love, too. Gosh! He's getting big. He turns 3 next month. He's talking well and I love it when he calls me "Aunt Cake."

The Langley Air Show was loads of fun! We saw some really neat things, we got to hang out with friends, and Jeremy bought me a funnel cake! Yum! The B-2 Stealth Bomber was our favorite!

An Update on Us

Well, I'm just about finished with my first semester of grad school. Honestly, I didn't think I'd make it through this week without a breakdown. Kudos! to Jeremy for washing the dishes and not complaining that I hadn't for my last three turns. I just have a little bit of tidying up to do, and then I'll be enjoying my nice, week-long break until Summer classes start. Can you feel my enthusiasm?

My advisor at school is hiring me as 'General Factotum' (is that redundant?) at CNU this summer. NASA is also trying to keep me on part-time, so I'll be a busy bumblebee yet again with two jobs and three courses. I am still anticipating an easier semester than the hellish one I just went through.

Jeremy and I are waiting for the Navy to realize how great he is and take him on as an officer. He's got his Fitness test this Saturday. He's anxious about it, but I know he'll do fine. In the meantime, he's still programming away at work. He's such a geek sometimes, but I love him.

We just joined a gym. It's lots of fun! While Jeremy is off half-killing himself to prepare for the Navy, I've been taking Tai Chi classes. I'm really enjoying them, and I'd like to stick with it. What a great way to start the day!

We're getting ready to move into our new townhouse next month. I'm very excited! We've outgrown the tiny apartment we're wedged into now. This new place will be much more like a home. We'll have an address that doesn't have an apartment letter (like 2B) in it. I also love to move. One of my favorite things to do is to re-decorate!

Toby, one of our beloved ferrets, is sick. He's got insulinoma, and he's not really responding to the medicine we have to cram down his throat twice a day. Poor little guy...I don't think he knows that it helps him. He just sees it as a punishment. We've noticed some improvement in his play, but his blood glucose levels are still pretty low. Basil, our other cute ferret, is fine.

Jeremy and I are going to the Langley Air Show tomorrow. Jeremy's never been to one, but I went last year. It should be a super fun day! I'll post some photos if I remember to bring the camera.

Hi back, Stranger

Jeremy's full of prunes!

Hi!!!

Hi Kate... I'm not sure if you know who I am, I'm the guy who's been married to you for over a year now, living with you for over 6 and giving you my money for even longer. Just thought I'd say hi!

The Brain Test

So, I was surfing and found this test. I thought it was neat, so I took it. I thought the summary was spot on. Here's the link in case you want to try:

http://www.mindmedia.com/
(Scroll down and click on the question - Do you use your left hemisphere or right hemisphere more? Enter a name, and you will be into the test.)

Here's my info:
Brain Usage Profile:
Auditory : 37%
Visual : 62%
Left : 58%
Right : 41%

"Kate, you are somewhat left-hemisphere dominant and show a preference for visual learning, although not extreme in either characteristic. You probably tend to do most things in moderation, but not always.

Your left-hemisphere dominance implies that your learning style is organized and structured, detail oriented and logical. Your visual preference, though, has you seeking stimulation and multiple data. Such an outlook can overwhelm structure and logic and create an almost continuous state of uncertainty and agitation. You may well suffer a feeling of continually trying to "catch up" with yourself.

Your tendency to be organized and logical and attend to details is reasonably well-established which should afford you success regardless of your chosen field of endeavor. You can "size up" situations and take in information rapidly. However, you must then subject that data to being classified and organized which causes you to "lose touch" with the immediacy of the problem.

Your logical and methodical nature hamper you in this regard though in the long run it may work to your advantage since you "learn from experience" and can go through the process more rapidly on subsequent occasions.

You remain predominantly functional in your orientation and practical. Abstraction and theory are secondary to application. In keeping with this, you focus on details until they manifest themselves in a unique pattern and only then work with the "larger whole."

With regards to your career choices, you have a mentality that would be good as a scientist, coach, athlete, design consultant, or an engineering technician. You can "see where you want to go" and even be able to "tell yourself," but find that you are "fighting yourself" at the darndest times."