Mutiny!

The professor of my online class FINALLY posted some grades (almost 2 weeks late), but not before mutiny was happening. One of my classmates took it upon herself to muster everyone to collectively send a complaint to the head of the Special Ed department. Granted, this professor is totally unprofessional and is getting paid for doing what appears to be nothing, but I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt for a couple more weeks. She absolutely has entered in none of the discussions (except to chide a few people that forgot to put their names on their entries). She has not answered anyone's emails. She hasn't even read her own syllabus and the "notes" she gives are absolutely worthless. Basically, I've paid $1375 for what I could get in a $65 textbook. But, I'll give her a couple more weeks and if things don't improve, I'll probably send an email also.

Class of '68 - Class at 58

Tom was asked to do the opening prayer and benediction at the 91st annual Britton-Macon Alumni Banquet last night. So we went--for only the 2nd time since Tom graduated 40 years ago. You see, Tom was the president of one of the featured classes but, unfortunately, the only one there from the class of '68. What was amazing to me was that there were 135 people--most of whom were 65 and older. The class of '48 (another featured class) had 100% of those available in attendance. There was one lady in attendance who graduated 75 years ago. The Class of '58 had the biggest attendance as it was their 50th. Another amazing fact that we learned is that Britton-Macon is a "School of Choice" and 1/3 of their enrollment is from other places. It was an interesting evening, and as usual, Tom amazed me by his remembrance of people's names, relationships, where they lived, etc.

AND, speaking of CLASS and 58--Joyce is 58 today! Happy Birthday, old friend! You've got more class than anyone I know!

Will They Revoke My License?

My "Grammy license" that is! After the bee incident on Saturday, we had another mishap on Sunday--this one a result of my stupidity! Heidi called and asked if I could teach Quinn how to make applesauce. He was supposed to bring a recipe for something with a apples to present to his class this week. Okay, sure!

We talked through all the steps. He wrote down his recipe and we followed his directions. Mistake: Step three should have been - Have an adult peel the apples. Instead I let him try-- and a sliced thumb and fingernail, lots of blood, and lots of tears later, I learned my lesson! After a run to the store for antiseptic spray and bandaids, lots of pressure on the thumb to stop the bleeding, and some fine first aid by Scott, all was well. We continued with the recipe and had the finest applesauce ever!

I think I've just lost my eligibility for the "Grandmother of the Year".

Majoy Mayhem!

Last evening Emily and the girls stopped by so that I could trim Emily's hair for her. We decided to do it outside. While we were standing in the driveway trimming hair the girls were playing in the yard- climbing the tree and stepping on the rocks around the flowerbed. Suddenly we heard screams--we looked over and there was Sophie with bees swarming all around her--she had stepped into a ground nest that we didn't know was there. We got her out of there quickly, but in the meantime the angry bees followed us--all of us screaming, jumping around, shooing them away. Some even followed us in the house. We were trying to get the girls' clothes off as quickly as possible in case any got under them. Sophie ended up with about 6 or 7 stings (miraculous it wasn't more), Lucy had about four or five, Emily had four, Ella- two, and I had four! It was quite traumatic, but after the initial stinging and screaming, the girls seemed fine and were even fascinated to watch the swarm out the window. Bob came and pulled out the stingers, (He saved the day again with tweezers). Out came the baking soda, the bee spray, and the benedryl. This morning my hand is pretty swollen. I'm hoping it won't affect my guitar playing for praise team this morning. I'm praying the girls are okay this morning, too.

It's Friday! WhooHoo!

REVERSED!!
THE BAD NEWS: The professor of my online class stated on Wednesday that our competencies should be submitted "right after"--not before, but "right after" the two-week discussion deadline was up on noon, today. The class syllabus clearly states that there are no deadlines for the competencies except that they can't be submitted until after the topic discussion is over and that they can be submitted any time during the term. She clearly didn't read her own syllabus. After a few people (including me) pointed out what the syllabus says, and asked her to clarify what "right after" means, and after another person pointed out that most of us might find it hard to submit in a small window of time because we TEACH all day, there was no response from the professor. GRRR! In addition, in the classes I've taken prior to this class, the professor at least has coherent "notes" and thoughtful discussion responses. I could have written better responses than this one did, without reading the textbook. It's hard to get motivated for a class when the professor doesn't seem to know what she's doing.

THE GOOD NEWS: Even though I was busy from before sunup until 9:30 at night both Wednesday and Thursday, I was able to complete my competency, and so I submitted it at 12:04. Hopefully, that's "right after" enough! So now, I have the weekend relatively free! WhooHoo! And it's two weeks before I have to submit the next competency--unless she rereads her syllabus!

The Team is in a Huddle

I don't know this team. I got them off of google images, but the one on the right reminds me of Sam and the cross country days. I like the fact that this team is praying together. Team Building is on my mind today. Mary, please read my friend Amanda's blog--she could use your team building expertise. I have to work on teams a lot--with classroom teachers, principals, other support people, and parents. The first two weeks of my class have been all about kinds of teams, kinds of leaders, kinds of roles on teams, team processes, blah, blah, blah! Of course they sight all types of research and use all kinds of "big" words to describe all these things that, as usual, are just plain common sense. Right now it's taking teamwork to help a new student at one of my schools. She's very sweet and cute and cooperative -- some of the time. But she has an anxiety disorder and a mood disorder and we believe some type of learning disability in math - she's in 7th grade, but performing math at about a 3rd grade level. So some days she comes in to school literally kicking and screaming. I will be teaching her math (most likely)--one more team meeting will decide that. It seems that math is one of the triggers that precipitates the anxiety and the behavior that accompanies it. All of you can be my "team-mates" by praying for this young lady.

The Puzzles of Autism and Dyslexia

I met with my young friend Caleb, today, for the first time this year. Caleb is awesome. I love him. Caleb's brain is a puzzle. Caleb has autism. He can read most any word you put in front of him, but can't remember details or get the main idea of a simple first grade reading passage. Now that he is a sixth grader he has to change classes. He needs a chart on his locker to help him keep track of where he goes when and what he needs to take. Today, after working for a while and talking I decided to show him the pictures from my whale-watching trip, because I knew he'd be interested. I showed him my pictures and my videos and then a picture of Emily and the kids on the beach came up so I told him that it was my daughter Emily. He immediately said, "Born in 1977!" I don't remember when I told him about my children and when they were born (he always asks about birth years), but he remembered that Emily was born in 1977. The autistic brain is amazing and puzzling! Caleb is a delight!



I also met with Gavin and Libby today. Both of them have dyslexia. I brought in an article from the Ann Arbor News about a man with dyslexia who has earned eleven degrees - his latest a doctorate from the U of M. I read portions of it to Gavin who can barely read at a first grade level, but can tell you anything you ever wanted to know about any animal and who would like to be a zookeeper some day. He'll never be able to read lots of zoological books, but I'm confident that he can be a zookeeper if he wants too. He's amazingly intelligent--he just can't read! His eyes lit up when I told him that Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, and other successful people are dyslexic. Libby, likewise, knows that she is very smart, but that she just can't read like her peers. She wants to go to a culinary arts school someday. I know she can do it. I love my job!

A Breath of Fresh Air?

Ever since we had our "well" issues a couple of years ago and had to dig up the ground near our family room, I've noticed a different kind of odor down there(especially on cloudy days). So yesterday I had an air quality testing guy come out. We have never had a radon test (even though I know that's odorless) and I was a little concerned that we might have a mold issue. The good news is that so far the radon meter has displayed very low levels of radon. The mold results have to be determined at a lab, but the man noticed something in the air that makes him suspicious, also, even though there is no visible mold. So by Friday we should know whether or not we may have to redo some drywall and have a mold clean-up in our family room. I had visions of our house being condemned or being labeled "worthless", but he reassured me that that's virtually impossible given the condition of our house.

Birthdays Galore!

The past week and a half have been filled with birthdays-- and I didn't give much blog attention to any of the Birthday Girls! So here they are! Maddie, Lucy, and Sophie get to celebrate theirs today! But Happy Birthday to all!

Heidi - August 29th - 34!!! Can that be?


Jeanne - August 30th - 61!!! That's impossible!!


Sophie - August 30th - Four and Fine!


Lucy - September 2nd - Two and terrible??? - Naaaa! Fun!


Maddie - September 6th - One and Wonderful!


I love you all!

Teamwork!

I started my new online class yesterday. It looks like it should be fairly interesting and not too difficult. It's called "Collaboration in the Classroom". It's all about providing leadership so that teachers, parents, psychologists, administrators, and other support personnel can work together effectively to benefit the student with special needs - Teamwork! In my experience "teams" can be highly effective and cooperative, challenging, and can spur one another on to do great things; or they can be difficult, at best, depending on the personalities involved. We'll see how well my "teams" work this year for each of my students.

So far my classmates online are a few from Michigan, and from as far away as Georgia, Texas, California, and even Dubai in the Middle East.

GO TEAM!

This is the Day ......

That Lucy turns two....
That Quinn starts first grade....
That Ella starts first grade....
That Avery starts Kindergarten....
That I start back to school....
That comes the day before I start my online class....
That comes the day before I start my choirs....
That the Lord has made! We will be glad and rejoyce in it!