Shaddup Already!
2005-10-21
Stuffity-stuff-stuff-stuff
Atticus got neutered.Yes, my male readers, I've had my boy castrated. So cross your legs and ooh and ahh, but Atty seems to be adjusting well.
Well, I don't know.
He has been mounting Cami every opportunity he gets. It might be his attempt to prove his manhood.
But he did that before.
And he carries around a purse.
He probably needs therapy, but I'll give him some milk bones instead.
I want to write an essay entitled "The Cross-dressing Beast of Cheltanham Court." See, I have started referring to Atticus as "the Beast." I have also noted that he is obsessed with my purse. He is so obsessed that I have to hide it from him. He drags it all over the house if I let him. Once I get a new purse, I'm giving him my old one as his very own.
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Since I was at work while he was being tootered, I had my parents pick him up. I got home, checked on my baby and found this:
They put a satellite dish on my dog!
The good news is that I got 300 more channels on my satellite reception.
The bad news is that they were pay-per-view puppy movies. You know the type, gaudy fire-hydrants, poodles with questionable morals, a lot of licking and heavy petting.
Unfortunately, the e-collar (the official term for the satellite dish collar) caused an abrasion on Bratty's neck. He has a huge sore now and must be sprayed down twice daily with some stuff he hates.
I must say that this whole thing has shown me how easy going and laid back my dog is. Destiny was pretty high-strung and, how shall I say it, snotty. She and I were opposite personalities. Now I have a dog that is as laid back as me. I kind of like it, even though I enjoyed the different personalities Des and I had.
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Cami is leaving me.
Soon.
There will be an entry on that either later tonight or tomorrow.
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My 8th period class has gotten particularly nasty with one another. I have a couple of kids who (I think have processing disorders) ask frustrating questions. The other kids are starting to lose patience with them. Although, I got quite a shock today and had to actually not say a word while I composed myself because I was afraid I was going to say something TOTALLY inappropriate.
I have this student, S. He is one that I think has a processing disorder. That just means that he doesn't take in information the same way most people do. He doesn't seem to hear directions at all and has to ask questions that seem painfully obvious to the rest of us. I try to keep patient with him, but it's not always easy.
The type of question S might ask is this:
Let's say that I hand out a one-sided worksheet. S may ask something like, "Which side do I write on?"
Frustrating, yeah.
I have another student, J, who either has a processing disorder or a really low IQ. I really need to go read her file. She asks questions that are just as frustrating, but has more of an appearance of wanting to do the work and listening to begin with.
Today I was giving a spelling test and after I said a word, J said, "Can you spell that?"
After all this happened, she clarified what she meant--she wanted me to chunk the word for her (break it down into syllables). It was a reasonable request.
However, before all this came to light S shouts out, "What a stupid question!"
That's when I had to stop and breathe. I had so many things I wanted to say that would have easily gotten me fired.
I mean, how dare he, of all people, criticize another person's questions.
Of course, he doesn't think there is anything inane about his questions.
Oy.
We're having a class meeting on manners and respect on Monday. And I'm looking for some picture books on bullying to read to all my classes.
My lower level classes are going through a really mean stage. My advanced classes aren't as mean, but they have their moments. So I'm incorporating some character education into my regular curriculum.
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Speaking of questions, I have a student who asks questions just to ask questions. The biggest problem is that she will raise her hand, I'll call on her and she will start her question:
S: Ms. B, do you know. . .(continues on seat work as if she had never asked a question)
Me: What?
S: Huh?
Me: You started to ask a question.
S: Oh, I forgot.
So I finally got overly tired of this waste of instructional time. I had a lightbulb moment. I explained why this wasn't acceptable and instituted a new rule for S--she now has to write down every question before she asks me.
This has worked beautifully and her irrelevant questions have stopped in the matter of one class period. Whoo-hoo!
One student asked if I was going to make everyone do that and I said, "Everyone who tends to forget their questions, yes."
I'm glad that came up because it clarifies that I'm not trying to pick on S.
