April 2006 - Posts
Day 3 of my 10 day vacation from work and it's Easter! Today has been fantastic, relaxing day. This morning, Peter and I had breakfast at our local bagel shop, picked up some last minute goodies from the Acme, and rented 3 movies: Lord of War, Derailed, and Elizabethtown.
Dad and Mom came for Easter "Brunch" around noon and I cooked! I so felt like Martha Stewart. Ok, not really, but I did cook, and everything tasted OK. We had French toast sticks (which I made instead of my intended recipe of Citrus pancakes because I ran out of Baking Soda), Egg, Ham, and Cheese Souffle with Potato on the bottom (which ended up being a little gross - I have no idea why the potatoes ended up sort of grey in color and squishy) which a Bellini Bar! The Bellini Bar I was pretty proud of. I got the recipe out of the Giada De Laurentiis' cookbook and made up 3 separate fruit compotes (blueberry, strawberry, and peach), and picked up Prosecco to pour on top of it. Yummy!
I took some funny pictures of Jasper with my camera this morning. I used the burst setting and this is what happened:
Isn't this crazy? I have no idea what it did that. I have to look it up on google or something. Either way I think it's pretty funny and I want to find a neat way to scrap it.
I made us dinner this evening too. My Mommom's recipe for Spam, which is basically just brown sugar mixed with regular mustard to make a glaze and then your fry the spam up, with mashed potates (from scratch NOT the box kind - whoohoo!) and asparagus (fresh NOT the can kind!), so I'm feeling pretty proud of myself right now.
We ended up watching two of our 3 movies this afternoon. Derailed was a little weird, but we really did like Lord of War. I have two cats sleeping by me on the couch right now. Jasmine is in my lap and Jasper (AKA the Mr. Kitty) is sleeping next to me on the top of the couch. We're going to watch so Prison Break episodes that we have recorded so I'm out for now!
My new grading system...
I feel like something must be wrong.
I don't have a pile of grading to do. No really, I don't. Those closest to me know that I am usually never caught up on grading. That usually has something to do with the fact that one of my classes is 3 hours long - and students can do a lot in 3 hours! - but more to do with the fact that I can be stricken with the disease known as "SlowGrader" - a.k.a. "LazyGrader".
But this 4th quarter I have started a new grading system. Instead of using categories like before with Classwork, Homework, Quizzes, Tests, and Work Habits, with various weights. My system now looks like this:
90% Summative (Tests in Accounting, Banking, Computers, and Desktop Publishing)
10% Formative (Daily classwork, homework, quizzes, etc...)
Students receive a 1 if they complete a formative assignment (complete meaning three quarters of the way done or more), and a 0 if they do not (or complete less than three quarters of the assignment).
Summative assignments receive a percentage score which is then multiplied by the courses' weight. Accounting and Computers are worth 1 credit each, while Banking and Desktop Publishing are worth 1/2 a credit each, so each is weighted accordingly within the 90% Summative category. Sounds complicated, but believe it or not it is way simpler than it used to be.
This new grading system has brought about a few new changes:
1. I no longer get stressed out to assign something because I'm worrying about "How long will it take me to grade this?!".
2. I'm spending more time reviewing with the students.
3. Students are practicing "Peer Reviewing" by comparing each other's work to master copies and working on their proof-reading skills.
4. Students have a better idea on where they stand "numerically" in class because the turn around time between assignment submission and teacher review has reduced dramatically.
Healthy eating again...
I'll admit it - I've fallen off the healthy eating band wagon. Healthy eating, to me, means eating 3 decent meals a day, not to high in carbs, not too low in protein, vegetables, FRUIT - I'm bad about this, despite liking fruit, and watching my coffee and sweets intake. I'm doing really well so far. Good breakfast and lunch, and I'm even snacking on a pear as I write this. I had picked up some good looking organic pears from the Acme last week, and hadn't tried them. Fortunately they are still good, so I'll be eating the other two this week as well.
I have an absolutely beautiful wedding dress that fit me perfectly that I want to continue to fit me perfectly so I need to be extremely diligent. I also want to finally lose those last pesky ten or so pounds. I hover in the mid-120s, but want to be 115 or so. I know that if I tried harder I could do it, so this is me, trying harder.
There was a good quote in Rhonna Farrer's blog today - "Good habits result from resisting temptation!" ~Ancient Proverb. That's definitely a good quote for me to think about during this quest of mine towards a healthier lifestyle. That was a darn good pear. Why don't I eat fruit more often?
Etc...
I "discovered" a new musician recently, Rosie Thomas. She has a really cool, almost "folky" sound to her music. She is performing this week near us. In Philadelphia Thursday night, and in Vienna, VA on Friday night, so I'm going to try and convince Peter that we should go one of those nights.
The Sims 2 - Open for Business. This looks so cute. The description reads "Get down to business with your Sims in The Sims™ 2 Open For Business Expansion Pack*. Now your Sims can build trendy boutiques, bustling bakeries, hip salons, and countless other shops. Your Sims can hire a staff to stock the shop and sell the goods. Will they build the neighborhood's favorite shop or the next entrepreneurial empire? The Sims 2 Open For Business is loaded with over 125 new objects including hilarious mascot uniforms for your Sims' employees to wear on the job." I really want to get this for my students to play with, especially the new freshmen that just joined our department.
Until I can get my hands on that, I'm off to search for some entertaining/educational activities for these new guys.
This past week has been crazy! A week and one day ago, a major event happened:
Peter and I got engaged!
He proposed on the first day of the Cherry Blossom festival in Washington D.C. last Saturday. It was the most romantic day ever. We stayed at a gorgeous hotel, the Mandarin Oriental, and on Sunday took our time walking around the sights after a fantastic breakfast - Eggs Benedict - yummy!
Last week seemed to fly by!
It was the first full week in our district without DSTP testing. I was glad for things to go back to normal. 3rd quarter was ending, so my kids were pretty antsy. It was so much fun letting everyone know we had gotten engaged! Peter was teasing me that it was a shame that I teach in a separate building from the main school because then I wouldn't be able to tell as many people as quickly. LOL. Evidently he didn't think about the fact that I'd "have" to check my mail in the main building "at least" daily.
We got our first official engagement gift on Tuesday 
from my Mom.
Aren't these wedding bears the cutest? Mom claims they are for both of us, but I think they were really just for me, lol. The picture that the bears are next to is the one we got of Jessop's Tavern a couple weeks ago.
On Thursday, Dad and Mom treated Peter and me out to dinner for an engagement celebration. Mom walked in carrying the funniest Hello Kitty Easter Balloon. Below are some of my favorite pictures from dinner.
This weekend was fantastic. Friday night we had dinner at Friday's and made a Target run. Saturday I had Czech class, and then Peter took me out for a surprise lunch The Farmhouse restaurant just over the Delaware line in Pennsylvania. On the way back, we got totally lost and ended up in Maryland!
Today was spring forward - which I hate. I hate hate hate loosing any sleep at all, not to mention a whole hour! We went to the gym and did grocery shopping before hitting Arby's for lunch - yummy. We haven't been there in a while.
I graded for like 3 hours this afternoon and did some lesson planning for tomorrow. I'm trying a new grading system this semester, but I can't figure out how to get my district's crazy grading system to cooperate. I'll need to bug "tech support" (our IT guys) tomorrow.
I was reading the InStyle Weddings magazine that I picked up on Friday and discovered the absolute coolest thing, DesignHerGals. You can design your own "Gal", down to the littlest details: eye, hair, and skin color, as well as outfits and accessories; that's free, but you can also order stationary with your gal on it. I totally plan on doing this ASAP. Isn't she cute? I think she looks just like me, lol.
I need to go to bed, but I made the bad choice of having a Tassimo Espresso mixed with a Tassimo Hot Chocolate. Yummy and chock full of caffeine! Miss Kitty, a.k.a - Jasmine, is cuddled up next to me, and as much as I don't want to kick her off the couch, I must because I need to get some sleep. One last picture first, though.
Isn't that hysterical? I went outside to take pictures of my blooming flower bush on Saturday, and Jasper couldn't understand why he could see me, but now get to me. That's him through the glass door (with my feet in the background, lol). Smart Kitty.