I'm not quite as tired on Friday this week as I was last week...but that is probably because we skipped dance last night and all of us went to bed before 10PM!
My classes appear to be good. I attempted to get them interested in the course this week with a lesson that ranged from the 3 Little Pigs to Don Henley's "Dirty Laundry" in one day. The subject of the week was media bias and how to detect it. I think they all got enough of the topic after 5 days that I feel comfortable with the base to build from. Our first news quiz is on Monday...I need to get crackin' on writing that.
Next week we will start on the introduction to government, forms of government, methods of participation, characteristics of democracy, etc., with a little Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau thrown in for good measure...actually more than just a little good measure. We do original source document analysis on those guys.
In order to try and utilize all the technology that we got this year, I have been working on a powerpoint for this chapter for more than a week. It has pictures, text, political cartoons, mp3 recordings and video clips. Something tells me this will be an every other unit thing this semester or it might kill me. I have worked so many hours on this presentation--converting my old overhead projector notes to powerpoint, and incorporating the other activities that we do in a format that is technology friendly. Actually, considering that the course is one semester, if I manage every other unit this semester, I could do the others next semester and I'd be in wonderful shape by the summer...if just a little exhausted.
So, what technology you ask? Not new computers unfortunately. The current ones are strained to the limit with the new stuff, but we are on the cycle for new ones next year I think. We got projection systems with a large screen (all mounted--ceiling and wall), a VCR/DVD player and recorder, microphone/audio system with a microphone on a lanyard if we care to use it (I'm so loud without it, I haven't tried the microphone system), an Airliner which is a bluetooth lapboard with a mouse and pen system which will either act as a mouse for the computer across the room or can also act interactively with me using the stylus like a pen and underlining, highlighting, etc. what is projected (or writing original stuff with nothing projected for that matter), a document camera which can apparently also work as a webcam if we want to do something with that and a responsive handheld clicker system (it isn't here yet) for the students to take tests, quizzes or answer poll questions for immediate feedback. They are also getting DirectTV or something like that for our television system which is projected on the large screen but it isn't fully operational yet. It's all pretty cool. I just hope most teachers are attempting to use it fully and not using it as a large overhead projector for all their old materials.
The students I was worried about appear to be shaping up just fine. This is probably a time when it is helpful to have a "reputation" built over many years. Hopefully it will hold! LOL
This afternoon, we went and bought a new answering machine/phone system for home. The old one (about 17 years old) bit the dust yesterday. We then took Eleanor to ballet and afterward headed home for my two younger children to watch "High School Musical 2" which premieres tonight. I told Olivia to enjoy it tonight. Starting tomorrow she is grounded from the TV and the computer until her room is sparkling clean. At the moment, I think her room could get the house condemned...and I'm only exaggerating minimally. She won't be happy with this status quo, but I'm determined to hold my ground. The only alternative is that I go in with a box of trash bags and a shovel and clear it out until it is sparkling and has nothing left in there either, except perhaps books and clothes. Who knows...it may come to that. I hope not.
Amelia's birthday is this week. She will be 11 and her only request is a cell phone. Her dad said "no" in a firm manner. I'm guessing it is because he knows she will use up all of our family time minutes and cost us dearly. I hope that is the reason at least. He wouldn't discuss it, so I'm guessing. I talked with my father tonight and he asked about her birthday. I mentioned that I was struggling with a present for her because she won't give me any other ideas other than that. He called back a few minutes later and he and my stepmother want to buy Amelia a phone and put it on their account with a boatload of rollover minutes and unlimited texting which they have. I told them that I thought that would be fine if they want to do that. They said it would be an inexpensive phone and I assured them she wouldn't mind. If she does, she'll have to save up for something fancier herself. She better be grateful for this gift...it wouldn't come from us.
Of course, this still leaves me with the problem of what to buy her. We just bought a bunch of back to school clothes, so she is set on that score. We are in the midst of a room makeover and I've already got her new comforter, curtains, etc. She has an iPod Nano she got for 5th grade graduation. I'm stumped. There really aren't any "toys" that she would play with. I can't afford a computer for her. Will and I have always said "no" to ear piercing until they are older too. I'm guessing a gift card or something. Unoriginal but what 11yo wouldn't appreciate money.
This is also the last year that I will let them have a "birthday party" per se. She hasn't asked about that and I'm not volunteering anything. Her sisters and I are thinking about having a surprise party for her next weekend with just a few friends. One idea was to rent a couple of rooms at the AmeriSuites (connecting, with me and her sisters in one side and she and her friends in the other). They could order pizza, have cake and ice cream, swim in the pool, watch a movie, do girlie makeover stuff maybe or go to a movie across the street (although a DVD would be cheaper) and have breakfast the next morning and then go home. I haven't run that by her dad yet though. It would be a little under $200. A pool party at the Y would be considerably cheaper but would require a lot more planning and coordination on my part too. I need to figure this out over the weekend because actual invitations will require work if they have to be sent out. Decisions, decisions...
I think I'm going to surf the web awhile and start on the laundry and then hit the bed with a book. We have dance in the morning and then chores the rest of the day. I'm hoping to whip the house back into shape this weekend. It is downright embarrassing at the moment.
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