WTF??? Lesson PLans????

Sooooo, this is my first semester taking core classes for Elementary Ed, with the exception of Children's Lit. last semester.  I have been working in a school for almost 7 years and have never really seen anyone use a lesson plan.  Not in the true sense, anyway.  Not only that, when I talk to teachers about them, they say "jump through the hoops, do them, and know that you will probably never use them again".  I have many friends that are teachers in different schools...high school, junior high and elementary, and they all say the same thing!  So, for one of my final projects, I have to do a Unit of Study with at least 5 lesson plans.  Interestingly enough, I have never done a lesson plan before, and until now, I really hadn't even seen one before!  And putting standards on them?  It's almost like being given a math story problem, one that needs to be set up like a fraction multiplication problem to solve it.  Only you have never been shown how to do a fraction before.  That's how I felt.  It's a little better, now...thank god I work with a teacher that just went through the Secondary Ed. program.  I also took a sick day yesterday (pre-planned with my awesome boss) and spent 12 hours on homework.  They say that the harder things are for you to learn, the better they will stick with you.  I will NEVER forget lesson plans, I guess.

Hannah

     She is slick black from head to toe, and so soft she feels like a brand new stuffed animal.  She has these sad-looking brown eyes that really aren't sad.  She puts her head on my lap as I sit on the couch, still as can be with only those eyes looking back and forth.  If that doesn't get my attention, she brings me one of her wet, stinky toys.  She absolutely loves my husband.  In the mornings, when we go to wake him up, she acts as if it is the first time she has seen him in months.  We all have our roles in her life: Shawn is her master (he's sure as hell not mine!), I exercise her and Koby is her playmate.  She is completely spoiled.  70 pounds of sweetness and love curled up on the floor like a cat.  We got her three years ago; I made quick work of it when Shawn started asking if I wanted to have another child.  Hannah was the perfect fit!!!  My big, lovely Black Lab.
    

Life

     Well, I finally filled out my FAFSA.  It took all of about 15 minutes...why did I put it off for so long?  I really hate the fact that I procrastinate.  I'm down to the last 4 weeks of classes, but then I remember "Oh, hahahah, joke's on me!  I have all freakin' summer to go to school!!!"  April 30th is my orientation for the summer PACE (Ashley, let me know how yours went!) and I have no idea what to wear.  Since I work in an alternative school, I get to wear jeans and t-shirts...basically whatever I want.  The letter said to dress as I would for working in the classroom.  I'm pretty sure my usual attire wouldn't work.  I suppose I'll have to do a little shopping.  Oh darn!
     On another note, my husband almost has the drywall in the basement done.  Saturday he threw a huge fit and threw tools and kicked chairs.  I refused to help him with it anymore.  He found a guy that was willing to do it with him for cheap; it ended up working out for the better, anyway.  After the drywall is finished, we texture and paint, then tile the bathroom floor and the area around the wood stove.  Then comes the carpet.  I've already bought the furniture, it's been out in the shop just sitting there all wrapped up.  This is really hard for me because I love to decorate.  When am I going to have time to paint?  To tile?  What about going shopping for wall stuff?  I wish I had some idea of what to expect for the summer.  Will there be a crap load of homework every night?  Lots of papers and lesson plans to write?  I've never even been shown how to write a lesson plan.  I don't know what the hell I've gotten myself into.  To top it off, Shawn wants to rip up the front and back lawn to put in a sprinkler system this summer.  That's great because I have ideas of what we're going to do as far as landscaping goes, but I sure as hell didn't think it would be THIS summer!  People keep asking me "How are you doing all of this at once?"  I think it's because I have no time to think about NOT being able to do it. 
     The saying goes "What doesn't kill you will make you stronger",  I'm going to be a freakin' bodybuilder by the time this is all said and done.

Student Led Conference

     It started out pretty well...hit some bumpy spots, then ended well.  A grounding for the week-end, but Koby actually is fine with it.  It's not that he has bad grades, all A's and B's, it's the zero's on the assignment reports out of each class.  The B's are low B's.  Seems he has a bit of an issue with organizing.  "Oh, I still have that assignment, it's in my locker" or assignments that should have been dome as homework, but were forgotten then handed in incomplete.  I know he's in 8th grade and 8th graders are as close as they will ever be to being incapable of learning things (this is a proven fact through brain research!!), but he has GOT to get this figured out!  This is the last year of credits that "don't count".  In August, I will officially have a High School Student.  We also found out that he has lunch for the next two weeks away from the rest of the students.  Turns out that he and one of his friends were shooting air soft beebees through pens that had the ink thing removed (hopefully that makes sense).  Lovely.  Koby told us at the conference tonight, and Shawn laughed and said "Uh, yeah, that's not a good idea".  Boys and men really aren't very different from each other.
     Here's the good stuff.  Koby's math teacher told us that one of the things that really sticks out to him about Koby, is the fact that every day, Koby says "Hi" to him in the hall.  He told us that there aren't many kids that do that.  Another teacher calls him "gopher" because he pops up all over the classroom...visiting other students.  That's something we've been hearing about for years :)  His social studies and language arts teachers absolutely love him, even though he's a bit too social during class.  All in all, his teachers think he's great.  We also got his DRP test scores (Degrees of Reading Power) and this year he's at a 72.  The highest the chart goes is to 63...that's a 12.8 reading level.  My 8th grader has a college reading level!  He scored in the 88th percentile for the nation.  Not too shabby!  Seeing that, cushioned the blow with the zeros.  H might be grounded, but I think we'll still hit Dairy Queen! 
     On a different note, today was Shawn and mine's 14th Wedding Anniversary.  I'll write about that in my next blog...I've got to go spend time with my hubby.  I'm even deciding to turn in my Reading and Writing assignments tomorrow instead of tonight.  Priorities, you know!

Steam

     I am losing steam.  Actually, let me rephrase that...I LOST my steam.  I have not blogged since Spring Break...I feel like such a loser!  I keep saying to myself, "tonight" or "I'll just do it while I'm at work", but it doesn't seem to happen.  I get to the point that I don't even want to open up my laptop.  I don't care if I have any assignments or not (of course I DO!!!), I just want to be done with school.
     That's all I have for now; just trying to get back into the swing of things again.  I'm sure tomorrow night I'll have something interesting to blog about since Koby's Student Led Conference is tomorrow night.  Crap.