Now that I’m becomming a teacher I thought it would be funny to list my favorite mean teachers from movies and T.V.  Now that I have been a teacher (all-be-it without pay) I can start to see something more human about them.

10.  The principal from the Breakfast Club, Principal Vernon. Barry Manilow doesn’t know that he raids his wardrobe. He’s an old school bully principal. The giant jerk, but very memorable.

9.   The principal from Ferris Buller. He tries to be like the other princiapl but ends up looking desperate and weak. By the end of the movie you feel pretty sorry for him. He’s truly unlikeable for most of the film. The secretary is a sweety, though.

8.   Principal Skinner, living with his mommy, teacher dating, hot headed principal. He’s the true example of power misplaced.

7.   Mr. Hand is my favorite mean teacher. He’s not really that mean, he’s just trying to teach a giant stoner and insists on ruining the said stoner’s buzz. As a teacher I can see that he actually cares about the baked student and tries to reach him in creative ways, like giving away his pizza. Some teachers would just let him space out and flunk him.

6.  Professor Snape, the classic nerd-becomes-teacher. This is why you don’t go to the same school as your parents, and you don’t teach at the same school as you attended. I personally love Professor Snape, he is the perfect foil to Harry’s oh-so-chosen oneness.

5.   I don’t know his character’s name, but Ben Stiller nails the apathetic High School Teacher role on the head. Of course I feel that way taking hot lunch count, when no one is listening… nachos, nachos grande, who wants nachos grande…anyone?

To be continued.

I am halfway through my student teaching and part of me feels ready to teach, and part of me thinks I need to know more. After spring break I teach for the last three weeks. I hope I can get everything in place before then so it will be smooth sailing.

To everyone I’ve been out of contact with for the last year or so, I’m sorry. I hope soon I’ll have a life again and lots of free time!! Unless, I really do get a job as a teacher, then I’ll see you on the breaks!

I found this as a response on a Carrie Fisher’s blog. I really, really like this story and wanted to share.  If the author finds this and reads it, please give yourself credit.

Here’s a story for you: 20 years ago, I knew an obese eating disorder specialist who treated anorexic women. She was seriously obese. No joke!
She used to remind me of Mama Cass with the long brown hair, eccentric clothing and tiny spiked heels. I used to ask myself, “How the heck can this obese woman sit in a room, and run a eating disorder group for a bunch of frail women who are discussing their weight issues?”
I mean, here these women were having conversations about not wanting to eat in fear of becoming fat and here was this specialist living the fear. She was the nightmare all these thin women starved themselves for in order to avoid.
Amazing….but then it dawned on me that this specialist wasn’t the nightmare- she was the inspiration. You know why?
Because she liked herself-she was happy being who she was. That was her silent message as she sat there: It’s not about the weight, it’s about being comfortable in our own skin.

President Obama is a turkey. He’s yummy and chocolate!! Laugh if you must, but this is a compliment from this second grader. Name has been blocked to CMA!

Still kicking!

 Just a quick note. I’m still teaching math! Whew, no math anxiety when it comes to 2nd grade math. That came about 5th grade for me. I’m learning the Smart board and more smackdown classroom management.

Athough I am enjoying everyday, part of me is ready for spring break!!

 Hope everyone is having a good snowy spring.

Whew! I just finished my third week of student teaching and it was exciting, frustrating, disappointing, rewarding and most of all, fast.

I was able to teach two things: Math and paragraph leads. My use of “whew” was an example of leading with an expression. The teacher talk is infiltrating my brain, finally. Teacher talk, or correct, professional and common terminology is so important. Because without it, let’s face it, it’s just talk.

And now for the humorous. I’ve been trying to accessorize my former office attire (i.e., I bought some jewelry.) The first week one of the girls in class asked me, “Are those real pearls?”

“No,” I replied.

“I didn’t think so,” she said.

Well, since I work with jewelry appraisers I’ll have by better knock-offs. These fakers were from Talbots so I thought I was on the right track.

My school is in a pretty affluent neighborhood. Yesterday I was doing playground duty (I still laugh every time I hear duty) and notice a building that boarded the playground. Was this building with two story-high, giant windows a church? No, that house belongs to Bobby Smith’s* family. Hmm.

I’m learning how to corral and silence this group of children. I realize of course, that I’ll have to re-learn these skills with another group. I’ve found with these kids it’s like trying to get the attention of a room full of drunks. You either need to make a loud noise or say something very off-beat or interesting. For example praising the listening skills of the rowdiest kid in the room during his two minute break often gets the desired attention.

 Finally, one of the funniest moments was last Friday. For my benefit they were coming up with describing words that matched the first sound of their last name such as Smiling Stevens. It was an exercise to help me remember their last names. One of the boys asked my co-operating teacher (his teacher since September) what her last name was.

She looked at him bewildered and told him. “It’s Jones*. As in Mrs. Jones.”

“No way! That’s your last name,” he responded, honestly shocked.

Wow, you can’t get much past him!

*All names have been changed to CMA.

jem-just-a-ride.mp3

If you want to feel really good about yourself check out this awesome site called GarfieldMinusGarfield

http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/

Which is what Jon would truly be like if we didn’t hear his cat.

These resolutions made me laugh. I’m actually about to fill up the helium balloons right now.

• Quitting Smoking: For every cigarette you smoke, eat two.
• Losing Weight: Put down that shrink ray! Instead, attach thousands of colorful helium balloons to your person. The balloons take pressure off the scale and give you colorful plumage. Soon, you’ll be a neighborhood folk hero beloved by children and ignored by the elderly.

I start student teaching tomorrow and this site will be a forum for me to do daily journals about my student teaching experience. Of course, I will try to add other blog information if I think of it.

I am in a wedding this weekend. I will never be in another non-relative wedding again. I vow. Not only am I wearing Hunter Green the bride, (a 36-year old second time bride) is running around like Scarlet O’Hara and taking serious amounts of my copious time. I’m not even the maid of honor!

Seriously, some people take the “it’s your day” mentality to true diva proportions.

Note to self: never ever include others in a second wedding.

Additional note to self: don’t have a second wedding.

There is no reason for posting these pictures other they made me laugh.

Ha, he “he will have aged gracefully.” Not so much.

I found this photo on my IPhone and jazzed it up at picnik.com. Since I mention no names, I figure its okay to share on the blog. Before I student teach I’ll put it up in the classroom for them.