Singing the Skyand rockin’ tha house

I got inspired yesterday by a post I read about heroes and English class. It made me think about how an alternative program such as the one I teach in would benefit greatly from an English class that focuses on heroes. So I’m ordering Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With a Thousand Faces and we’ll see where it goes from there. I also ordered another book, The Latino Education Crisis: The Consequences of Failed Social Policies because it looks like really interesting reading. Right now, I do see those consequences…I suppose my hope is that there will be some proposed solutions. And for fun, The Year of the Flood: A Novel by Margaret Atwood. I feel really decadent ordering that one, because I never spend money on “recreational” books.

I’m really thrilled that our district will be using the FastForWord product, as I had literally just called the company about using it at home for Sage. The price is several hundred dollars a month, but I was ready to pay it. Then my principal asked me to be the campus coach for our new reading program which is…you guessed it…FastForWord! So now I get to be trained on it and my kiddo will get to use it. Yea!

One thing I’m not thrilled about is that the kid who hit me in the neck a year ago last May is back at my school. He is not in my exact program…yet, but his behavior has been horrible, and he is working his way there. NO WAY will he be in my classroom. Frankly, I can’t stand it that he’s on the same campus. This is a kid who ripped the phone out of the wall when my old principal tried to use it, threw it across the room, attacked three staff members and generally tore up the office. A recent article about a teacher being killed by an emotionally disturbed student in a neighboring town has everyone a bit on edge when dealing with these particular students.

I’m afraid to write too much about this…but, someone at the local university hinted that they’d like to “steal” me for an position there. If that happened, I could get my doctorate for free (I think)… I’m trying not to think too much about it, because I don’t want to be disappointed if that position is not created. Anyway.

Bad news on the homefront. Greg’s kitty, Gordon, has about ten percent of her kidney function. We have no idea how long she’ll live, although she seems to be doing much better now. This makes me sad, since she’s no longer the feral little beast she was when he got her…now she’s my little “Gordita.” When Greg took her to the vet, he told them that he had changed her name to “Wood Stove” since her treatment had eaten up our original savings for that item. They didn’t get the joke and literally changed the name in their computer, which was a real hoot. The whole thing that is going on isn’t a hoot at all, but it is what it is.

I’ll be doing the freelance thing again all weekend. We’re only two hundred dollars away from getting a wood burning fireplace insert. Warmth will be good this winter.