Just a mid-vacation word for those awaiting revision corrections, especially on Asher Lev papers. I've been sleeping a lot from the pills I've been taking for pain from my surgery, and have spent most of my waking time in a strange little chair with my shoulder hooked up to a contraption that keeps it moving. This is to say that I have not forgotten you but have had little opportunity to do the job.
I hope to get to some of them tomorrow. Please bear with me.
I'm actually writing this on Thursday night because I have no clue if I will be coherent enough to post anything tomorrow night, but I thought I should have a Final Day post anyway. Look at yesterday's post for information about CW final projects and Vocab Extra Credit stuff.
I hope you all enjoyed the last day today. I left the sub "The Nightmare Before Christmas" with exact instructions so that what you'd see would time out almost perfectly; I hope it worked. And, CW folks, I hope you enjoyed the WWF; don't forget to submit to YI!
Surgery Update:
I thought I had already done this but apparently I had only dreamed it.
All went well. The doctor said that he was able to remove all of the scar tissue, so now I just have to get through the pain and the meds and the recovery and the therapy...
(Isn't it sweet that I dreamed of sending you message?)
Here is one of the coolest videos of the year:
2011: The Cinescape from Matt Shapiro on Vimeo.
WORD OF THE DAY*: SUBMIT TO YOUNG IDEA!
* Click word for information.
Tomorrow's Conferences: (What conferences? It's vacation!)
So this is the last day of school for me before the break, as you know. I awaken bright and early tomorrow to go to the hospital (or to the "horse-pistol" as someone in my family once nicknamed it) to have my shoulder operated on. They get to go in with an arthroscope and clear out some scar tissue from an accident last summer and (if I'm lucky) an old cyst that isn't doing any harm right now but you never know. And then...I get to be on monster pain killers for quite a while and I get to sit in a ridiculously uncomfortable chair connected to a machine that manipulates my shoulder to make sure the scar tissue does not reform.
Why do companies that make things like that have to make them so uncomfortable?
Anyway, I hope that all of you have utterly awesome holidays.
CW:
I mean it.
Literally.
There's nothing new.
Send me anything that looks "missing" on PowerSchool. CW, bring portfolios tomorrow (and goodies!). E3H, bring cookies for WWF.
Honestly, there's nothing new here.
Not even a video.
Go away now.
:-)
So I find out today that I have to miss much of tomorrow for a stress test before Friday's surgery. Oh joy! Oh rapture! I should return by 7th and 8th periods, but still...
A message to sophomores and juniors:
Look at PowerSchool. It is as up to date as I know right now. If you do not have a grade or a check mark indicating that I have something in my possession, then I do not have it. If you have done it and you want me to have it so I can grade it, make it so. Email it to me today if possible. Just do it quickly; I am going to have to update these scores early next week so that missing grades turn into zeroes, and that will not be a very nice Christmas present.
CW: There is only tomorrow before portfolios are due. If you are desperate for another conference...while that is not my problem, try emailing it to me. It might work. You never know.
E3H: We'll show off our various versions of hell tomorrow and then talk about Stephen's.
E2CP: you'll go to the WWF tomorrow. Bring cookies!
WORD OF THE DAY*: Watch this space. There will be an extra credit vocab vacay project coming in the next couple of days!!!
It's really late this time. And I am not at school. I am just getting home from "My Afternoon At The Doctors' Offices." Doesn't sound as if it will be able to be adapted into a major motion picture, does it?
Anyway...
Here are a few things to ponder:
The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for.
I seem to be posting short messages this week. Probably a function of getting out of here after 6:00. :-) Have a nice weekend!
CW: The countdown says there are 6 days left.
I don't know about anyone else, but it seems to me that time is just flying these last few weeks before break. I come in on Monday and it's suddenly Thursday. How does that work anyway? And how can I bottle it to use it on the slow weeks?
CW: The countdown says 7 days.
Short days are inherently crazy. But today takes the cake, with forensics stuff and missing essays and a whole slew of other nonsense. Is it vacation yet?
CW: There are 8 days left.
There are funny people in my room.
I'm serious. They are behind me as I type this, being silly and doing hilarious things that are massively distracting. They are improvising things:
"What happened to your face?
"Job interview."
It's hard to pay attention to what I am trying to think of. Someone back there is killing random small animals in various states. I think one of them is named Laura.
CW: There are 9 days left:
Oh boy do I have them!
CW: Your portfolio is due in 10 days.
It's awfully late.
It's after 8.
I know: it's true.
I usually do
have posts online
in quicker time.
But this day's work
remained to lurk
into the night
(which wasn't right)--
but anyhow
it's over now
so here we go
(on with the show!):
Time for a post!
Enjoy it most!
:-)
CW: Your portfolio is due in 13 days. Do you know where your portfolio is?
E3H: We discussed the Christmas dinner scene today. There will be WW Monday, and I will also be grading annotations for Ch 1 then. Read through p.76 (at *** break) for Tuesday.
E2CP: We finished the movie today. Over the weekend:
December? Already? OK...NOW it's OK to put up those decorations. :-)
Ah, another week has passed the halfway point. Time flies when you are having fun! Seriously: remember when I said on Oct. 1 that things would speed up? Well?
Only a few of you took advantage of the extra credit offer from last night's blog. Watch this space for further opportunities. You never know when they might show up unannounced. :-)
CW: Today we wrote and conferenced. Tomorrow we'll be in the lab. Be sure to double check the Prompt List elsewhere on this page!
E2CP: Today we discussed more of the book, focusing on Arnold's poverty and why it made him especially susceptible to bullying due to the lowering of self-esteem. We also discussed how it led to his going to Reardan. No new reading tonight. Focus on your RW project, due next Monday!!!
E3H: Today we were in Writing Workshop. We worked specifically on creating stories, focusing on the notion that the best stories come from our lives but contain specific changes from what actually happened: the facts are not the important thing; the truth is. We are heading back to Portrait tomorrow: read through to page 25, annotating as follows:
There must be a story in why I am still at school at 6:00. I don't know what it is, but I do hope someone will figure it out, write it, make it darned good, and email it to me. Best and most original story gets a couple of extra credit points...
CW: We had a visit from Peter Ferry today. You started a story. Take it to the next level and bring it in tomorrow. Let's see if it goes anywhere interesting!
E3H: Today we discussed the SC in the rugby scene. Tonight, your HW is to visualize that scene's SC in your own original graphic design. (It does not have to be a river, and probably shouldn't be.) Bring it in tomorrow.
E2CP: Today we continued discussing bullying and talked about life on the rez. Read through p.53 for tomorrow.
Awkward Thanksgiving Family Photos:
Back to school again, stuffed from turkey and trimmings. What has happened? Let's see... The Bears lost. The NBA is back. Newt is still ahead in the GOP race to see who gets to try to beat Obama. It's cold outside.
Sounds fairly normal to me.
On with the show...
CW: Lab today. Pete Ferry tomorrow!
E2CP: Discussion of weekend packets today. Read through page 33 for tomorrow. Don't forget RW project is due Dec. 5!
E3H: Portrait intro today; discussed stream of consciousness. Read the playground scene (3-7 for tomorrow, highlighting places where Stephen digresses in his thoughts from the actual scene in which he is participating and writing in the margin what he is thinking about.
Here are a couple of old comedy perspectives on Cyber Monday:
It's not that I am not thankful or anything...but when the weekend is five days long and the week is only two days, how does that work exactly?
CW: Write. Write again. Then write some more. And look for a letter from me!
E3H: Consider the connections between the film we just watched and the book we have just read. Extra credit opportunity: 1-2 page essay discussing Georges 1 & 2 as artists and what their journey tells us about Asher Lev. Use quotes from the play. (Musical lyrics can be found here.) Email it over break. Points won't be huge, but every little bit helps, right?
E2CP: Do the three pre-reading activities I gave you in class today. If you were not in class:
I know, right? Even though her birthday was Friday, we still have not feted Natalie Durot! That's crazy! Friday was the Clothesline Project--not a day for cheery happy birthday songs. And then today...she was not in class! Gosh, Natalie, you'd better be here tomorrow or I just don't know what I'll do!
CW: Lab time today, lab time tomorrow.
E2CP: Today I outlined the RW project. See me if you were not here and need a better explanation than what follows: