Stephanie went to a specialist doctor she sees earlier this week and was advised (given her family history) to get a mammogram (her first) and start taking minerals to prevent osteoporosis. The doctor also said that altitude (both in Las Vegas and on the plane) might have helped trigger the problems she encountered when we first got to Marysville.
Stephanie has been frustrated this week because some of her school district superiors decided that she would teach her students (and perhaps some non-ESL students) a fancy new Scholastic “Read 180” program that she thinks will help some students but most others still need more traditional ESL instruction, and now they may not get it. Plus it’s been incredibly complicated figuring out a schedule for her to pull students for ESL and/or Read 180. Stephanie’s principal will decide – probably today – how this is all going to work, and Stephanie will have to adapt. It’s hard to know how she’ll be able to claw out planning periods and how she’ll be able to do what she thinks is the best job for her students (plus she’ll have to get used to a whole new curriculum). In the short run, this means – as school starts for students today – she doesn’t know what her schedule is going to be (probably next week), who she’s going to teach, and what she’s going to teach them.
Vincent said he’s still unhappy about the sequence of events that led to his break-up with Samantha. He said he’d like to take some time off between high school and college – but – his mother reminded him – You’ve already taken almost a year off. Flouting the informal house arrest we put him under, his friend Jessi – former Vincent prom date and recent turtle-sitter – stopped by earlier this week and – after a long friendship (which involved as we suspected her being interested in him for a long time) and an ugly aborted day of going out – they’re going to go out together. Of course, Vincent isn’t actually allowed out until after he finishes his two classes. Vincent apparently continues to make some progress on those classes. The research paper is the one remaining task for the English class, and Vincent is apparently doing some reading for that.
This week my mother completed an annual responsibility of helping Florida educational leaders understand the latest standardized test scores by Florida students.
Wednesday night I was able to lead my first Outreach Council meeting at church. The church has four councils, elders on session must chair/facilitate them, and our Outreach Council chairperson moved far away recently and had to resign. I was anxious about leading the Council. But – at the last moment – I arranged to co-chair – the co-chair was out of town last night (councils meet on the second Wednesday of the month). Now, I’m more anxious about how to work out the co-chair relationship, in part because the co-chair doesn’t do e-mail and in part because I had before worked out in my mind how I wanted us to do some things.
I learned Wednesday that Grandpa’s sister, Mildred Costick (pictured above in December), whom I visited in December, died earlier this week, in the health center part of the nursing home where I visited her. I don’t know if they ever let her know how sick she was. The burial will be in Westerville, where we visited in May the grave that will be hers, but a memorial service will take place at 12 noon Saturday: http://www.dilleylasater.com/obituaries.asp?ItemID=244&CategoryID=172
-- Perry
Stephanie has been frustrated this week because some of her school district superiors decided that she would teach her students (and perhaps some non-ESL students) a fancy new Scholastic “Read 180” program that she thinks will help some students but most others still need more traditional ESL instruction, and now they may not get it. Plus it’s been incredibly complicated figuring out a schedule for her to pull students for ESL and/or Read 180. Stephanie’s principal will decide – probably today – how this is all going to work, and Stephanie will have to adapt. It’s hard to know how she’ll be able to claw out planning periods and how she’ll be able to do what she thinks is the best job for her students (plus she’ll have to get used to a whole new curriculum). In the short run, this means – as school starts for students today – she doesn’t know what her schedule is going to be (probably next week), who she’s going to teach, and what she’s going to teach them.
Vincent said he’s still unhappy about the sequence of events that led to his break-up with Samantha. He said he’d like to take some time off between high school and college – but – his mother reminded him – You’ve already taken almost a year off. Flouting the informal house arrest we put him under, his friend Jessi – former Vincent prom date and recent turtle-sitter – stopped by earlier this week and – after a long friendship (which involved as we suspected her being interested in him for a long time) and an ugly aborted day of going out – they’re going to go out together. Of course, Vincent isn’t actually allowed out until after he finishes his two classes. Vincent apparently continues to make some progress on those classes. The research paper is the one remaining task for the English class, and Vincent is apparently doing some reading for that.
This week my mother completed an annual responsibility of helping Florida educational leaders understand the latest standardized test scores by Florida students.
Wednesday night I was able to lead my first Outreach Council meeting at church. The church has four councils, elders on session must chair/facilitate them, and our Outreach Council chairperson moved far away recently and had to resign. I was anxious about leading the Council. But – at the last moment – I arranged to co-chair – the co-chair was out of town last night (councils meet on the second Wednesday of the month). Now, I’m more anxious about how to work out the co-chair relationship, in part because the co-chair doesn’t do e-mail and in part because I had before worked out in my mind how I wanted us to do some things.
I learned Wednesday that Grandpa’s sister, Mildred Costick (pictured above in December), whom I visited in December, died earlier this week, in the health center part of the nursing home where I visited her. I don’t know if they ever let her know how sick she was. The burial will be in Westerville, where we visited in May the grave that will be hers, but a memorial service will take place at 12 noon Saturday: http://www.dilleylasater.com/obituaries.asp?ItemID=244&CategoryID=172
-- Perry
Don't worry, Steph, you'll adapt the 180 Read to the ESL kids! That's what I do with SRA Reading Mastery ever since Reading First mandated that I teach the same core reading program as the other homeroom/reading teachers. Anyway, Rdg First is over now but we still follow the same model. Althea had been teaching 180 Read at Bellevue Middle Sch. I think she liked the program. You may want to email her if you want. She'll be at Fairview MS this year with ESOL since the district closed down Bellevue.If your school is having reading all at the same time, then you should pull out the ESL kids during that time for Read 180. Good luck!
ReplyDelete