Cinco De Mayo Meme

It actually has nothing to do with Cinco De Mayo, except that today is in fact the 5th of May.  I like to say it Cinco De May-o–phonetically, because that is how my Grandpa says it and it cracks me up.

Anyway, today could not be a better day for a meme, because my brain power has all been sucked out of me by grading 18 year old thoughts.  That’s a hard job, man.

So thanks to Ms. Julie for tagging me.  I can’t resist a good meme (I have no idea why)

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?

10 years ago I was sixteen.  I was busy hating my sophomore year of high school for a lot of reasons.  I don’t remember any of them now, but I do remember standing outside waiting for the bus with my friend Candace, both of us discussing how horrible the year was.  Maybe it was riding the bus.  Maybe it was geometry.  Despite 16, I was avoiding getting my license, because I am that weird kid who hates to drive.  I was looking forward to the summer and not doing anything except babysit my little sister and blare Sarah McLaughlin with my door shut.  I was angsty.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

1. Grade 7 ten-page essays (I can see the light at the end of the tunnel)

2. Grade 3 classes worth of test writing

3. I would really love to finish my wedding thank yous, I am not sure this will happen.

4. Call my Mommy.

3) Snacks I enjoy:

-Fruity Candy (starburst, skittles, now & laters, jolly ranchers)

-Watermelon

-Nacho Cheese Doritos

-Cucumbers (when I’m feeling healthy-ha)

-Nachos

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

-Pay off all my debt, including my house.

-Let R. take me to DisneyWorld

-Renovate my Grandpa’s farmhouse

- Buy an old house in the country and live there in the spring.
5) Three of my bad habits:

-Procrastinating (Oh yah, I guess I need to add “work on thesis due tomorrow” to my to-do list.

-Being messy

-Internalizing slights and getting over-angry about them.

6) 5 places I have lived:
I have lived in over ten–here are 5 in no particular order
-Ottumwa, Iowa

-Kirksville, Missouri (TSU!)

-Omaha, Nebraska

-Bettendorf, Iowa

-Homewood, Illinois

7) 5 jobs I have had:

- Cashier at Casey’s General Store in K-ville

-tutor

-I was a waitress for all of 3 weeks–it was the worst experience of my life–both the pay and the alcoholic boss.

–Daycare teacher

- seasonal naturalist

6 peeps I wanna know more about:

I am not a good meme tagger, but here’s a few:

Wegrit

Gibsondog

Bri

 

It’s Official

The matching dishes & glasses sitting in my cupboard make it official: I am a full-fledged adult.

(Yes, it is this and not being married or home ownership that really does it).

 

New Life

I was offered a new job yesterday.  AND I AM TAKING IT!  I love my current job in a lot of ways, but it’s also a very frustrating place to be for a new teacher who needs other teachers in her content area for support and yet do not have any.  It’s also implausible to stay in the current job because I literally get paid six times a year.  They’re big ol’ checks, but I’ve got bills to pay and I can’t go from July to October without getting paid.

This job is a little less money, but I will have a support system.  I’ll have training and a mentor.  It’s really a great move for me, and I loved the new school, even though I wasn’t so sure at working at a private school.  After interviewing and touring, I was in love.  And, they seemed to really like me too, which is also a plus.

So, all of the sudden I fee like I have a new life.  A wife, a homeowner, an English teacher without having to qualify exactly what I do (dual enrollment).

With this “new life” I am thinking about changing the name of the blog.  These aren’t just brushes anymore, adulthood is here rearing its simultaneously ugly and wonderful head.  But, I am terrible at titles.  The process might take a while, but the URL will stay the same.  So, keep coming back to the same Bat place, don’t be thrown if you see a new Bat title.

May 3rd-Out!

 

One last note about plagiarism

It is amazing how people are different.  Is it a time thing, a locale thing, a parent thing?

I am sitting here thinking about the three chapters of my thesis due Tuesday and how I am never going to finish.  I am thinking of all the possible ways to finish (Much Mt. Dew and a full weekend of all-nighter writing? Turning in half the pages and hoping for the best?  Inventing a time machine and a non-procrastinator machine?).  And, it occurred to me, that though I have 8 billion things to do, all of which have deadlines, it has not even momentarily occurred to me to plagiarize.

Of course, the only reason it even occurred to me sitting here is because I confronted one of my plagiarizers today.  As I suspected, she claimed she did not understand what she did wrong.  She said she cited.  I pointed out she didn’t use these things called quotation marks.  Also, there were paragraphs where there was plenty of plagiarism and NO citing.  She still claimed ignorance, but accepted the grade and that she wasn’t going to put a fast one on me.  We talked and will discuss some options to possibly get her to not fail the class.  I don’t want her to fail the whole class for one mistake–even if it’s a huge mistake that I talked with the whole class about multiple times.

Never, in my many years of schooling did plagiarism occur to me as an option (or as a confusion).  Not to say I NEVER accidentally plagiarized a line or two.  I’m willing to be my paraprasing wasn’t always perfect–but it was never on purpose and never more than a few lines.

Perhaps it was my confidence as a writer.  I did feel it was my one scholastic achievement, and it never occurred to me to let someone else do the work when I could do it and get an A.  But, that isn’t it–because my procrastinator tendencies have gotten me into way too much trouble to really have my abilities be the thing keeping me from it.

Perhaps it was the way I was raised.  The difference between right and wrong was always emphasized in our house.  Not in terms of religion or even laws, but in terms of how we act, what we should do as good, decent people–and this was taught by example.  My parents did the best they could.  The easy road was rarely proposed and rarely taken.  My Dad called gambling “ill-gotten gains” and, though not morally opposed, rarely participated.  He wanted to do his own work and be rewarded for that, not have something fall into his lap.  It wasn’t that we were preached at to be “good”–we were shown how by my parents and grandparents.  And so, just like smoking and drinking never appealed to me, stealing and cheating never appealed to me either.

In the end, I actually feel sorry for my students who take the easy way out.  Who see cheating and plagiarizing as a way to “get through.”  Who see it as no big deal and something that has to be done because they’ve got too much else to do.  These students who feel they’re owed something, who feel their education is a waste.  Because, in the end they really are harming themselves.  The hard part, though, is that while they’re hurting themselves, they’re hurting their whole generation.

And so, I try to focus on the ones that amaze me.  The ones that come to school with a positive attitude.  The ones that do their work to the best of their ability while balancing extra curriculars and social status.  The ones that don’t just “want” an A, but work for it.  The people I know I will see running the world in a few decades.  There aren’t many, but there are some and I think I need to learn, as a teacher, to show my appreciation to these students and to realize all is not lost for our future.

 

I did that?

Apparently, I signed up for NaBloPoMo yesterday.  Why?

I DO NOT KNOW.

It was as if my fingers began acting of their own accord, because when it occured to be this morning that I had signed up, I thought–surely, I must be dreaming.  I do not have time for this!

Yet, here I am

The best part of today, though?  Knowing that seniors will be gone in 3 weeks (leaving me with just one class a day) and juniors will be gone in four.  The end is in sight… barely across all this grading…but it’s there waving at me.

Yes, I have lost it.

 

Disappointing Teacher Stuff

I just gave two students a zero on their final paper worth 20% of their grade.

Why?  Why else: plagiarsim.

This is my first year of teaching, so I know that ugly little guy will continue to pop up in my life, but I find myself saddened by this.  One student plagiarized 95% of his/her paper.  The other about 80% (though I think more is plagiarized I just can’t find it).  At first, I kept trying to excuse it.  They didn’t understand the difference between paraphrase and plagiarize–I mean, we only went over it multiple times.  Surely, there’s some excuse.

But, there’s really not.  I want to give them the benefit of the doubt, but this isn’t one paragraph.  This is MULTIPLE pages in a ten page paper.  Sentences upon sentences.  Words I know these students couldn’t even define if they tried.  And, it’s really sad.  I can’t even be angry, because in the end–they lowered their grade 20%.  I’ll likely hear from the counselor and their parents that I’m not being fair.  In the end, excuses will be made for these girls and I will be the bad guy.

Of course, this makes me question myself.  How many other papers have I missed over the course of the semester?  Was this a one time thing–or something they thought they could get away with because they have.  If it was one, I think I could write it off.  But two–right in a row–it makes me question a lot.

 

Getting Used to the House

We have been in the house for over a week now.  It already feels like home.  I’ve moved so much in the past 8 years, that my adaptability is fairly quick.  Still, there are some fairly big changes from living in a dorm/apartment to live in a house.

1. When I hear a noise–it is not going to be the upstairs neighbor stomping, yelling, or moving their shit.

2. Not only is there an upstairs, but it is also mine.  (I go for days without going upstairs because our master bedroom is on the main floor.

3.  There is also a lower floor/basement.  It is mine as well.  (I think I’ve been down their twice).

4. Despite having all white walls (for now), I have curtains (not apartment blinds) that liven up a room.

5. Water and ice come out of my fridge door.

6. My cell phone gets service INSIDE!

7. I have to check 3 doors and a few windows before I can go to bed.

Some things that remain the same (for now)

1. Still no garage for my car–all of our crap is taking up my half.

2. Still no yard–they haven’t laid our sod yet.

3. Still have to walk to get our mail–the mail people won’t deliver mail to our mailboxes until the neighborhood is 75% full or something.

 

Exhaustion

It’s another cool, rainy day, but because the past week has been so lovely–this cool is not oppressive winter cool, it’s rainy spring day cool.  Things are green, I smell lilacs, this cool is okay.

I’m curled up on the couch, listening to the Cardinals game, while I mentally tell myself all the things I have to do.  My body replies “I refuse to cooperate.”  So, my brain keeps chugging and my body just keeps “getting tired-er and tired-er.” (name that movie!)

Yesterday I woke up at 6am, then drove the 4 hour trip to Burlington, Iowa with my Mom and 22 centerpieces, 2 alter pieces, 3 bouquets, and a handful of corsages for my cousin’s wedding.

The day was fun (I love weddings–especially weddings I am not actually in) but today I am paying the price of getting up at 6am, and not getting home until 1am the next morning.  Also paying the price for running after my cousin’s son.  I adore him, but he wears a person down.  He is a non-stop 5 year old… I am an 80 year old woman in a 26 year old’s body.

I also got to hold his younger sister (though not in this picture); my Mom told me not to get any ideas–she is not ready to be a Grandma yet.  However, it is hard not to hold a smiley, happy, can-fall-asleep-in-the-middle-of-a-loud-pounding-song baby girl and not feel a little baby tug!

Then, this morning, we moved another load of crap from the apartment to the house.  We have yet to unload it and there is still mounds and piles of unpacking to be done.  I also should be grading my student’s final papers and writing my thesis.  I don’t know where the energy for all of this is going to come from.

I need a vacation.

 

26

I am now officially past the quarter-of-a-century mark.  Usually, I look forward to my birthday all month long because I love birthdays, even when they are disappointing, I can always make myself a cake!  This month, with so much going on, I’ve barely given a thought to my birthday.

I think I am more excited about the internet FINALLY being installed at home today than about the steak dinner at Outback and the present R. will buy me with our wedding Target giftcards (he sees nothing wrong with this… don’t you see something wrong with this?)

Best birthday gifts of my 26 years

-keroseen lamp

-quantum leap script bought off Ebay

-necklace from R. in our first year of dating

-giant bouquet of flowers made by my Mom and dropped off to work for me by my Mom

 

86

Today would have been my Grandma’s 86th birthday.  Tomorrow is my 26th birthday.  We always shared our birthdays; it was like a special little bond between us–though we had many.

I don’t think there’s been a day in the almost 2 years since she’s been gone that I haven’t had a fleeting thought about her or missed her.  We all have amazingly important people in our lives, and she was mine.  She was the one person who always made me feel special, the one person who never asked more than I could give.  I think the mention of her will always cause me to tear up–I will always miss her immeasurably.

But, I think this month has been especially hard not having her here.  So much has happened, so many big, important things that I always dreamed she’d be here for.  Just the mention of her at the wedding sent me running for the bathroom to hide the crying.  When she first got sick and then passed away, I was afraid I would forget or the pain would fade away.  But, it hasn’t.  It’s still here every day and can’t help wishing she could be here.  I suppose it will always be that way.  And I would rather feel that pain and cry those tears, than lose and forget everything she was to me.

I’ll always look at the sun setting, and think of sitting next to her on the couch, looking out her window, commenting on the colors of the sky.