Musings on Life and Living

I have been working as a second grade teacher for about two weeks now. For the past week, it has been at the same school in the same class. My second graders are pretty awesome, even though I occasionally want to tranq a couple of them if they don't learn how to sit in their seats and do their work! (Don't worry - I would never actually do this!) *** I think the United States needs to implement mandatory voting, much like they have in Australia. Before I have someone blow up at me and claim that this is a terrible idea, I think it is important to note the most fascinating feature of the Australian mandatory voting law. If you are not satisfied with any of the candidates, you have the right to cast an empty ballot, and that gets counted. I think this would stop the foolish notion of a "winning" candidate to think he/she has been given a "mandate" by the voting public. Imagine what would have happened in 2004 if several thousands, or even millions, of American...

So, I've finally started working as a substitute teacher in the Champaign schools. This actually came as a surprise to me, as I had been told that I would be given a call to let me know I was on the sub list, presumably before getting a call to sub. Instead, I got a call on Monday morning at 8 am asking me if I could sub for a teacher at Carrie Busey Elementary School. Of course I could and I wanted to, so I quickly got cleaned up and dressed as Gretch made lunch for me. I spent the day as a 2nd grade teacher. It was fun, although I was reminded of why I have a preference for the upper primary grades (i.e. 4th and 5th). Most of the kids were great. Just the little girl who was always bossing everyone around, and the two boys who kept chasing each other until I got frustrated and sent them off to the Assistant Principal. All in all, though, a great feeling to be back in the saddle, so to speak. Today, however, was a totally different experience. My teaching certificate is a Type 03 ...

Before I get into the gist of this particular post, I think I'd just like to point out that, as we in the States are in the midst of a very close, very intense political campaign for the White House, this entire topic is very relevant to me. I wish that Gretch would find it as relevant, as well, but I am coming to terms with that fact that certain individuals in her life have made her, already, cynical and apathetic toward to the system of government in our nation, and even more so to the method of selecting representatives. I am tempted to go off on a tangent here, but I think I will reign myself in and leave this thought before going on: Edmund Burke is credited with saying that the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. I have thought about it a lot and realised that the statement would be most accurate if he had said that the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do something else. We are always doing something, but what we...

A couple of years ago, I began my professional courses at the University of Illinois. This meant that my schedule was filled with classes that all started with C&I, also known as Curriculum and Instruction. These were intended to be the courses that prepared me to enter the education profession with more than just a bunch of random knowledge. Teaching practices, theories of education, Illinois Learning Standards, No Child Left Behind, Harry Wong, memoirs and research... these are the heart and soul of the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Of all the many, many books I was assigned to read during these two short years, very few of them were ever actually read by me. Of the articles, even fewer. I admit that I am, in many ways, a terrible student. The reality of the situation was that I often simply could not afford to buy the books that were required, and it took me almost a year to figure out that they were all available in the Education and So...

While Gretch was trying to work on her assignments for her various classes, I chose to sit at a nearby computer and see if I could figure out what was wrong with our blog's alignments and suches. Having failed at that (and quite thoroughly, I might add), I started bugging her to show me what was wrong. After gripping my face in a I-love-you-but-I'm-going-to-kill-you type of way, she had me go through the html, and then found the problem (something was set to 170px instead of being auto). Having made that change, the blog is all prettified. And Gretch hasn't had to resort to killing me. Now we (and when I say "we" I mean "she") just needs to tweak the blog posts so that they don't get covered by our pretty leaf design (it hangs over just a little teensy bit). So huzzah for Gretch!

Yes, some of you out there in the Internet are having problems reading our blog. I know. Gretch knows. You know. We all know! And now that we've got that established, we can all stop pestering my poor wife about it, right? Right. Awesome. You guys rock. Really, thanks for letting us know. But now that we do know, she's starting to get a bit frustrated that "everyone" is bugging her about it. Which is funny, because it really isn't everyone. In fact, I think it has only been two of you. But, then again, since our current readership is floating around 6, that means that, like, 33 1/3% of our readers have told us about this. Also, I think I showed her the comments, and then, when she was actually reading her email (something she does about once a week), she saw them again. So it was like seeing it four times instead of just twice. Anyway, she'll work on it as soon as she is done un-whelming herself of assignments and isn't working. Why don't I fix it, you...

My beloved wife has informed me, quite sternly, to stop using our blog for purposes other than its true intent. I admit that I am not quite certain what this means, but when I pressed for me details, I was given dirty looks from the woman I love. And since I really do want Gretch to be happy, I am attempting a "normal" blog post. It is my understanding that blogs are meant to be used to talk about what is going on in the blogger's life. Or, at least, that is what this blog is for. While I seriously question this, I will comply. My life is pretty boring, really. In case you don't believe me, here is a run-down on what I have accomplished today. After waking Gretch for the third time at about 7:00 am and getting her off to Parkland for her 8 am class, I spent the morning reading "Twilight" and listening to my not-awesome neighbours across the way screaming at each other for a very long time. I think the screaming started at 9:30 am, but it could have been goin...