Mirabiliae’s blog

Chaos in the Hall

2008-10-28T23:28:00Z

How do you deal with chaos in the hallway? Well, to be honest, I don't. The kids rarely respond to directives given in the hall (tuck in your shirt, be quiet, etc.) and there is next to no enforcement potential, so I tend to make sure I'm on aler...

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Voyeur Part II

2007-07-21T04:41:04Z

I just watched the video of my taped July lesson, and here are a few of my thoughts. Class size makes a big difference. In this tape, I had much more time for informal assessment and interaction with each student; by the end of the lesson I felt ...

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Books I've Enjoyed This Summer

2007-07-21T02:33:27Z

If you are in Mississippi and have any interest in arts and letters, you can't possibly escape the influence of Eudora Welty. The Optimist's Daughter, her Pulitzer Prize winning novella reads very quickly and reminds me why I love Southern lite...

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The End of the Beginning

2007-07-21T01:33:08Z

Summer school at Holly Springs is over, leaving me wondering just where, exactly, the last month and a half have gone. It seems like just yesterday we were all sitting in Ed building fresh from our previous pursuits, thumbing through our binders a...

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Kafka-esque

2007-07-10T00:57:16Z

Today E. and I drove down to Jackson to sign our contracts, get fingerprinted, and sign the lease for our lovely little house in Fondren. There were, however, a few hilarious moments that I feel need to be documented. 1. My new landlord revealed...

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Voyeur

2007-07-02T01:52:50Z

I just finished watching my taped lesson from the June summer school. While it wasn't supremely horrible, there are many things I need to work on before school starts in August. Let's start with the least important- my wardrobe. A orange-red dres...

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Reluctant Disciplinarian

2007-06-30T01:59:16Z

Of the many pieces of advice to new teachers offered by Gary Rubenstein in his book Reluctant Disciplinarian, I responded most to the following two: 1. Shut up. 2. Be decisive. In my lessons over this past month, I had several almost out-of-bod...

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Pleasure Reading?

2007-06-28T03:03:48Z

In college, I made a rule for myself that I would try to read for pleasure at least one hour a day. Although I didn't always adhere to this, I discovered almost all of my favorite books by reading outside of those books assigned for class. Vanity ...

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Summer School and Cold Calling

2007-06-21T22:19:16Z

I am having a blast teaching English II and III at summer school. I won't lie; most mornings I am still a little tired- late night lesson planning and poor eating habits have definitely left me desiring a few more hours of sleep when that alarm go...

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Focus Paper Response

2007-06-13T03:19:37Z

One of the more depressing moments in American nutrition occurred in the 1980s, when the Reagan appointed officials at the USDA declared that ketchup, along with dill relish and other tasty condiments, would be considered as vegetables in the meal...

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