September 26, 2007

I am not getting enough sleep. I know it is my fault that I go to bed too late, but it doesn't change the fact that I am still not getting enough sleep. So tonight I plan on being in bed by 10pm instead of my customary 11:30 - 12:00. This morning I was dragging almost until my first class came in at around 9am (and I had been at work from 7:00 and had been up since 5:45). The good news is that I don't dread my classes because they are so cooperative. I also got some good news, Mr. James, my substitute teacher from Friday praised my plans to all the front office staff for being so well planned and organized. Having been a substitute teacher for two years before having a full time teaching job I know the value of detailed and organized plans. It is very stressful to just walk into a classroom as a sub. Some students think they are commanders of naval destroyers and automatically go into "sink the sub" mode, so I do my best to make sure that the plans I leave are not the source of any additional stress. I remind my students that a sub has these extra pressures and stress and the fact they are well behaved made his job even easier.

I am finding that I am slowing down. That is to say, my pace in the curriculum is slowing. No matter what I do, I cannot get out of Greece and Rome in anything less than two weeks. And according to the pacing guide I should be done with both in 6 days. There is just so much that I feel bad giving so little time as it is. Sure, I could get through it if I assign the students 3 sections from the textbook a night and give notes all period but the students would resent that and would either shut down and go to sleep or would rebel by not paying attention and becoming small distractions. My hands feel tied. I want to keep the students' interest by mixing it up with different activities and movie clips. The trade off is I do not get to complete the "history of the world" by not finishing the 20th century. Every semester I do my best to get farther in the curriculum, but that means cutting out more and more. I am not sure of the motivation behind giving only breadth and not depth in the material.

Today's Headlines:

Bill O'Reilly Says He's Being Smeared (Yahoo!News)
Bill "you ignorant slut." How foolish do you think we are? The king of smear is accusing others of smear. See, that's the problem, you don't know what "smear" is. Smear happens when you make a person look bad for something they did or say when they did not mean for it to come out poorly. Bill, do you actually expect the nation to believe that this one time you weren't trying to be bigoted? That this was one time when you weren't making a snide comment? Everyone knows your meaning, Bill. What is sad is that you think we are too ignorant to understand. But I guess that is the mentality of Fox "News" programs, they think the people are so unintelligent that they will not be able to think for themselves and will take for gospel anything that is said on the network. News flash Fox, "the O'Reilly Factor" is not news, it is entertainment, stop comparing it to news programs. And the "No Spin Zone" is so dizzying, I have to take a Dramamine when I just flip by O'Reilly. So please, Bill, stop pretending to be credible. The people who watch you are either 1) entertained by your show, or 2) have never had an original thought their entire life.

For those who would like a look at O'Reilly and Fox News network without the spin, read:
Sweet Jesus, I Hate Bill O'Reilly and Fair and Balanced, My Ass! both by Joseph Minton Amann and Tom Breuer. And don't forget Lies, and the Lying Liars who Tell Them by Al Franken.

'nuff said.