February, in a nutblog

I have a student with a cochlear implant, and a student with a deaf parent this year. This week they gave me my ASL nickname, which has something to do with nature. I'm not quite sure why the parent refers to me as nature, or always greets me with 'nature' in e-mails, but she does, so that's what my nickname is. It's better than 'sleeping', which my student considered calling me, since sleeping is my favorite free time activity.

We're reading Bridge to Terabithia this month, along with every other school in the nation. It's cool though, because my kids are excited about it and it's one of my all time favorite books. It's turning into their favorite as well, because it has swear words in it and I let them say the words as we read if they want. One kid got very excited and put a ton of enthusiasm into his 'damn!'. We're hoping to plan a field trip to see the movie when we're done reading.

Along with the book we've been doing some methods of elaboration in language arts. We've been doing poems and the personification poems turned out pretty well. I'm trying to get the poems online, to a web page I set up, but it's so time consuming, and I never seem to get around to it. In social studies we are starting government. But behind everything is THE TEST, looming, reminding me what I have and haven't covered yet.

I got a copy of the official letter my principal sent, recommending that my contract be renewed. It's mostly just a formality, and they would have let me know long ago if there was a problem, but it was still nice to see it. I think later this month I will find out for sure if I have my same position next year or not. It seems likely, but you never know. The whole seniority thing is crazy, and I am way down at the bottom of a long list. At the top of the list are teachers who taught me years ago. There are also all these teachers who were on leave (usually maternity) and can come back at any minute.

I don't think I got my grant. We were supposed to hear Friday if we got it, and I didn't get any phone calls. I've been carefully building up my arguements for why the grading process wasn't fair, and how I don't want their stupid grant, anyhow. That way it won't be my fault that I didn't get it. My biggest excuse is that I'm new and wasn't sure what I was doing. But I'm sure I won't be the only one. Over 60 people attempting to get technology, each one wanting anywhere from $2000-$20000, and only $75000 to go around. I think I might try for a different grant this month.

I keep feeling on the verge of being sick. I get achey, tired, my head hurts. I feel as if a major cold is about to erupt and then it goes away. I have to take better care of myself. Exercise more, eat better, the usual.

Today, we might not be moving. The thought of a much higher house payment doesn't seem too appealing, even if it comes with a brand new big house. But we're still thinking. We walked through a beautifully decorated model home today. One of the bedrooms was decorated in black and white and pale pink. I think that would be a good color scheme for Cali. In 6 months from now my life could be drastically different. Or, it could be exactly the same. I wonder which it will be.