Every time I check blogs and cringe at the ever-widening period of time since my last update, I am more and more daunted by the prospect of a catch-up entry. So here's what I did today, because really that's all I am mentally capable of communicating at this moment:
10:00am: A viewing of "Waiting for 'Superman'" with teacher/social work friends.
The documentary explores the broken state of our schools and the various pressures and factors preventing the current public school system from effectively educating our children. I have been reading articles about the film for weeks--content aside, it is really wonderful how this movie is bringing education into the public forum! It is less biased toward charter schools than I imagined but still does not quite present the most well-rounded depiction of public schools... Audiences unfamiliar with the workings of the education system will likely walk away believing ANY charter school produces superior results to ANY public school, which is simply untrue (recent reports actually find public schools slightly ahead of charter schools on average in terms of achievement!). The personal stories were moving, though, and it was great to discuss the film and the education world in general with a group of knowledgeable professionals! And the group included church and teaching friends--worlds collide!
2:30pm: Planning meeting for an upcoming church young adults group service outing
I am super excited (and possibly starting to be spread too thin?) to be co-coordinating the newly minted service and outreach team through the young adults group at my church (ASYA, or All Souls Young Adults, from here on out). Today's meeting was in preparation for our kickoff event, an all-day service effort cleaning/painting/organizing a nearby church that hosts a slew of programs for the community, including Girl Scouts and various afterschool groups. The plan is to make these outings a monthly happening, each instance exploring a different need in the community. The prep is a lot of work--touring the building, compiling supplies/to-do lists, communicating with organizers, promoting to ASYA members--but already rewarding!
6:00pm: Bulletin board assembly
Oh, right, and I have a weekday job too. Between a steady social calendar of events, the service initiative, occasional babysitting, staying in touch with friends and family, choir, exercise (depressingly low on the priority list lately), and regular chores and errands, schoolwork sometimes feels like something I squeeze in when I can. Good thing concert season is approaching, that's not much work at all...
10:00pm: Completion of blog entry that probably should have been foregone in favor of sleep or lesson prep
When's Thanksgiving?
Love, Hugs, and Airborne to combat sleep-deprived immune system deterioration!
KP =)
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Recipe for a Perfect Weekend
-2 full days of blue skies after a week of rain and clouds (and before another similar week)
-1 perplexingly legit bar 6 blocks from my school in the Bronx that fills up with teachers on Friday afternoons for phenomenal happy hour and karaoke fun. Let sit for 6 hours with 4 other ETM music teachers (plus the 50 other ones already in the know about this place) and arrive home by 11pm.
-5 apples, 1 eggplant, 1 onion, 1 large bunch broccoli, and 1 carrot for $6 at the local Greenmarket. Cheap, healthy, and delicious is my favorite.
-3 hours of marathon apartment cleaning. Annoying, but always incredibly calming and mentally cleansing afterward.
-2 hours paid babysitting. Layer lesson planning and tasty ravioli over the top.
-1 long-awaited sermon on the necessity of outreach and service (and a commitment to new, real initiatives) from the pulpit of my regular church. Follow up with several conversations on the need to jump on board these initiatives and the general wave of intent. Finally!
-1 tall pumpkin spice latte and 1 multi-grain bagel, toasted, with cream cheese. Leisurely consume over the entry of 450 names into the gradebook.
-6 miles of energized (perhaps due to the aforementioned latte) running. Combine with crisp fall temperatures and a random Renaissance Faire. (What, Inwood?)
Et voila! It was quite the productive and enjoyable weekend. And then...
It was going to be a great Monday. I baked pumpkin bread for my new school. I had all my lesson plans and materials set the night before. It didn't even rain over my morning commute! Then my traveling teacher cart ran into a corner, projectile-flipping my water bottle onto the floor, the result of which materialized in said bottle leaking, unbeknownst to me, over my cart and phone which normally wouldn't have been there but I kept out to make sure my visiting field supervisor would find me in the school (she never came) and now the keypad is becoming increasingly temperamental so it's sitting in a tub of rice. Also, since the clouds held in their fury over my afternoon commute as well, I didn't notice when I left my umbrella bag, umbrella inside, on my first of two buses and failed to realize the oversight until I was off the second. I then learned that Target umbrellas are (unreasonably?) expensive but now I have an umbrella. Whatever. And my library said it had a book I planned lessons around this week but in fact did not so I had to go to the one in the next neighborhood which proved a longer and more frustrating and wetter excursion than I had anticipated. Then I got free pizza from my gym. That was handy.
I'm not sure to which side of karma the last three days have delivered me, but I would like to call it even. I would also like to call from my phone in the near future. C'mon, rice...
Love, Hugs, and a case of the Mondays,
KP =)
UPDATE: Phone is in full working order. Brown rice + vacuum = one less item off my plate. =)
-1 perplexingly legit bar 6 blocks from my school in the Bronx that fills up with teachers on Friday afternoons for phenomenal happy hour and karaoke fun. Let sit for 6 hours with 4 other ETM music teachers (plus the 50 other ones already in the know about this place) and arrive home by 11pm.
-5 apples, 1 eggplant, 1 onion, 1 large bunch broccoli, and 1 carrot for $6 at the local Greenmarket. Cheap, healthy, and delicious is my favorite.
-3 hours of marathon apartment cleaning. Annoying, but always incredibly calming and mentally cleansing afterward.
-2 hours paid babysitting. Layer lesson planning and tasty ravioli over the top.
-1 long-awaited sermon on the necessity of outreach and service (and a commitment to new, real initiatives) from the pulpit of my regular church. Follow up with several conversations on the need to jump on board these initiatives and the general wave of intent. Finally!
-1 tall pumpkin spice latte and 1 multi-grain bagel, toasted, with cream cheese. Leisurely consume over the entry of 450 names into the gradebook.
-6 miles of energized (perhaps due to the aforementioned latte) running. Combine with crisp fall temperatures and a random Renaissance Faire. (What, Inwood?)
Et voila! It was quite the productive and enjoyable weekend. And then...
It was going to be a great Monday. I baked pumpkin bread for my new school. I had all my lesson plans and materials set the night before. It didn't even rain over my morning commute! Then my traveling teacher cart ran into a corner, projectile-flipping my water bottle onto the floor, the result of which materialized in said bottle leaking, unbeknownst to me, over my cart and phone which normally wouldn't have been there but I kept out to make sure my visiting field supervisor would find me in the school (she never came) and now the keypad is becoming increasingly temperamental so it's sitting in a tub of rice. Also, since the clouds held in their fury over my afternoon commute as well, I didn't notice when I left my umbrella bag, umbrella inside, on my first of two buses and failed to realize the oversight until I was off the second. I then learned that Target umbrellas are (unreasonably?) expensive but now I have an umbrella. Whatever. And my library said it had a book I planned lessons around this week but in fact did not so I had to go to the one in the next neighborhood which proved a longer and more frustrating and wetter excursion than I had anticipated. Then I got free pizza from my gym. That was handy.
I'm not sure to which side of karma the last three days have delivered me, but I would like to call it even. I would also like to call from my phone in the near future. C'mon, rice...
Love, Hugs, and a case of the Mondays,
KP =)
UPDATE: Phone is in full working order. Brown rice + vacuum = one less item off my plate. =)
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