Juliet and Romeo and some rocks

Yesterday, I took my grade 5 class downtown to see Juliet and Romeo at what used to be called the Young People's Theatre. It was true to the original so it was a good thing my class had already studied most of it. Most of the class understood what was going on. What hit me as I was watching it was how DIRTY that old SHakespeare guy is. Honestly, the connotations of some of these lines is atrocious. All I thought to myself was, "Thank goodness this is in old English and the kids don't understand a thing." What they did understand was actions, so of COURSE we got the laughter and giggles everytime Romeo and Juliet kissed. There was a big, "EW!" when Mercutio smacked Benvolio on the lips, and also another "EW!" when Romeo spoke a little too vehemently and spit all over the Friar. There was also an audible gasp when Romeo came out from Juliet's room without, GASP, a shirt on. At that moment, I really really wished he would have just kept that darned shirt on so I wouldn't have to explain it. Thankfully, no one commented about that later.

Question of the trip: "Miss O, why were Romeo and Juliet always kissing?"
My response: "I think that's what couples do when they're in love."

It's just so funny to see the grade 5 reaction to it all!

Later on in the day, I had my grade 1 class draw some pictures of things or situations that made them feel a certain way. The first feeling they had to draw for was "hurt". As I walk around the class, I notice several of them have drawn lumps. I ask what the lumps are. The response? Rocks. AHAHAHAHahaha. Well, of COURSE rocks would make you feel hurt. AHahahaha. Oh man. The most hair-pulling part was seeing one of the girls who drew a happy face for EVERY situation. For hurt, for astonished, for irate and for cheerful. ALL happy faces. This is, of course, the girl that actually answers, "Happy" to every question I ask. Ex. "Who can tell me a synonym for the word LIVID?" (yes, my grade 1s REALLY know these words!) This girl's response: "Happy!" Oh man, this is why I only pick on her when the answer is SUPPOSED to be happy. Ahahahaha.

Most hilarious conversation

The best part is that this ACTUALLY happened.

Scene 1

Child lays sprawled across work table.

Adult: Okay, Billy, I'm going to count to 3, and you need to be off that table.....1......2......3.

Child doesn't move. Adult ignores child and works around him. Adult eventually tires and tries another strategy. Thinks to herself that she'll be leaving soon, so she doesn't mind lying to Billy.

Adult: So Billy....I've never told you this before........but I'm Santa's helper.

Child's eyes open wide.

Billy: Really?

Adult: Yes. ANd do you know what this week is, Billy?

Billy doesn't respond, trying to appear disinterested.

Adult: This week is when we report to Santa about all the children. I need to send a letter to Santa about you, Billy. And actually, the other day, he was JUST asking about you.

Billy still lays sprawled. Adult goes to bag to get a piece of paper and a marker.
Starts to write: "Dear Santa, I saw Billy this week."
Billy peeks over. Recognizes his name.

Billy: What does that say? What does that say?

They read it together. Billy finally gets down to work.

Suddenly, Billy stops working. Adult takes out marker and uncaps it very deliberately. Billy pauses and sees the marker poised over the letter. Goes back to work.

{fade to black}

Okay, WHO goes around telling misbehaving children that they are Santa's helper?! Ahahahahaa.

Big-time bubble popping

I lived in a big bubble. Now my bubble has popped and it sucks. I really liked my bubble. I used to trust people and I used to be really nice. Now, in my bubble-less world, I'm suspicious and cranky and grumpy and stressed out. I hate it. I want the bubble back. What's so bad about a bubble, anyhow.

1200 again??

Hm, so after being introduced to the world of anti-spyware via Matt and the computer-savvy police guy, I've been nuking these..whaddaya call 'em? Data miners and Malware thingys. Yeah. I've been zapping them right off my computer (okay, I've done it twice). This has actually been quite therapeutic for me, taking control of my computer. It seems it's hard to control other parts of my life these days. Anyway, the first scan I did turned up over 1200 critical whatchamacallums (yes, that's the technical term for it), and Matt was really surprised. Apparently that's really high. So, you know, I scanned last night so I was expecting you know, maybe less than 100 to appear today when I did it. My little eyes bulged when I saw 1200 AGAIN. Yeah. Is my computer a malware magnet? Well, I am running ME. Ahahaha, so there's problem number one. But otherwise, come ON, stop attacking my computer, will you sneaky things??! Honestly. It takes FOREVER to get these things off and away. Plus everytime I run ad-aware, my GMT crashes, whatever that is. I know, I'm probably going to find out it's like the most important thing ever. Sigh. Silly Windows ME. Who the heck thought of this version, anyway?!

Totally unrelated, but nice:

"Relationships gain strength when they are stretched to the breaking point and do not break." - Phillip Yancey

Cannot Say Enough

Cannot Say Enough - Mercy Me

What can we say to describe just a glimpse of Your Glory
How can our words portray but a thread of Your Majesty
But still we praise our Savior in Spirit and in Truth
For we cannot say enough about You

What can we say to describe just a glimpse of Your Glory
How can our words portray but a thread of Your Majesty
But still we praise our Savior in Spirit and in Truth
For we cannot say enough about You

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

But still we praise our Savior in Spirit and in Truth
For we cannot say enough about You

Oh we cannot say... enough about you
Ohhh we cannot say...

The Lord is my light and salvation. Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life- of whom shall I be afraid? - Psalm 27:1

He is the one that sustains me when everything falls apart at the seams. Thanks, Lord.

Absolutely Apalled

I was flipping through TV shows today when I came across the normally very tasteful Oprah. Shockingly, today's episode was about a topic that I view as quite Springer-esque. She was doing an episode about swingers, which was an eye-opener for me. I had NO idea what a swinger was, but I find it shocking and disgusting and so sad all at once. Basically, she had all these people on her show who go to clubs and have intercourse with OTHER couples. These are MARRIED people. I had no idea this happened, and I can't even believe it. The thing that saddened me most was that these people insisted that their sex lives were enhanced as a result. My jaw is just down to my KNEES. There is such a breakdown in marriage and family values nowadays...I'm frightened at how this next generation is growing up. I can't can't can't even believe it. At this rate, why should they even bother getting married anymore???

Teachers can be bullies, too

We've been talking a lot about bullying in my education class, and recently, we discussed the idea that a teacher can be a bully, too. Most students think about bullies as the kid who smokes or wears a leather jacket, etc., but in fact, I think most of us know that bullies come in all shapes and sizes. Which brings me to the focus of my blog: Teachers can totally and definitely be bullies, too. It's so MEAN! I semi-tutor this one guy from my church because he needs help in English. Unfortunately, he hasn't been doing well, so I had him go ask the teacher what he could do to improve his mark. She basically told him quite bluntly that he would never get 80%, and that 70% was also impossible. He said that he had always been a bad writer, and she basically agreed with him. Gee guys, correct me if I'm wrong, but somewhere along the way, teachers are, GASP, actually supposed to TEACH students. I mean, I know, some kids are slackers, and I'm not going to defend my kid any, but come on, she seems so MEAN! I totally and honestly think she's a bully. She totally belittled this kid and basically told him he sucked in English and that he'd never succeed. Way to empower the student. Sigh.

I'm glad we talked about teachers as bullies. It'll make me more careful not to be a bully to my students.

Mean bully teachers are so bad!

Is it too much to ask?

I've had a rough month, not only because of my school workload, but also because of some harassing phone calls and e-mails I've been getting. The creepy thing is that this guy seems to know certain details about me that I assume only someone that I'm at least acquainted with would know. Thus, I've decided not to do any one-on-one hanging with any guys. My problem is that I trust everyone....only most likely, this creepy person IS someone I know. Problem? Yes. If I make an exception for one of my guy friends, then I'm prone to make an exception for all of them, frankly because I don't really believe that it's any one of them.

Alac and alas, some people have taken offense. I'm sorry, but frankly, I'm not going to wait until I'm out with someone to find out that they're the stalker. What's the problem with hanging out in a small group, anyway? Sigh. But really, I do understand why you'd be pissed off. I'd also love if people could appreciate where I'm coming from, I guess.


In HILARIOUS news, I had my grade 5 students do an assignment for me. It was to make a poster depicting the services offered by ONE level of government. Now, I realized after getting the posters back that I really should have explained this further. Most students just picked a level of government and gave me information and pictures about it. The winner of the most unrelated and hilarious prize goes to Jenny, who made a poster about Provincial Servants. She has a picture of Dalton McGuinty and his wife. The funny thing is that well, first, she states that Dalton McGuinty is our Prime Minister (don't worry, she got it all straightened out by the test), but then she somehow felt she had to go on to prove that the woman he is holding hands with in the picture is his wife. First, she made a note that said, "Circle means example". Ahahahaah, which is when I noticed that she had circled 1) Dalton McGuinty's left hand and 2) The couple's hands clasped together. Then I read the notes: "Example 1 - The ring on Dalton McGuinty's left hand, second finger. Example 2 - They are holding hands." AHahahahahahahaahah. How unrelated is THAT?!?!!? Oh man. I still laugh when I think about it. It's just so absolutely unrelated. So Dalton's married. Ahahahahaha. Oh Jenny, Jenny.

Fountain of Youth

Kids have so much energy! I went to observe the D.D. class again at my school, this time for outdoor play time. It was great because they all just run around chasing each other. The most hilarious moment happened as we were gathering by the gate to head in. We all turned away for a second and when we turned back, the "Eww" kid (from last week) was leaning, peeing out the fence. All I could see was a kid with a stream propelling from him. He looked like a little fountain figure. Oh man. All I thought was, 'I am NEVER going to touch leaves on the ground again.' He was peeing into a whole pile of them. Ooooh man. Kids!

brainjims and ew

This past Monday, I had the opportunity to visit the developmentally delayed class at my school. It was amaaaaazing. I'm not sure exactly why some of the kids are in the class, but it was neat to see everything they do. I got to see circle time in the afternoon, where they do Brainjim, which is a CD song thing where they do different activities. THe point of the activities is to coordinate the two sides of their brains; thus, the name Brainjim. Or maybe it's Brainjam. The lady has a European accent. Anyway, the kids rubbed their earlobes, tapped opposite knees, etc. It was fun to watch. I think I'd love to work with them, but it would be so challenging! Anyway, towards the end, one of the little boys walked over to me and was staring at me. Then he said, "Eww." All the teachers were like, "Oh no." Apparently he said the same thing last week after he soiled his pants, and sure enough, he had. They kept telling him he had to tell them sooner, before the Ew. Gross, and yet really neat. So that was that. I had a good Monday, and on Friday, I'm visitng Queen's Park with my grade 5 class! Dalton McGuinty, here I come!