Friday, November 9, 2007

Another one of those weeks!

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE my job as a school librarian! It's just the little things that get in the way sometimes...like THE KIDS!

Tuesday
Kindergarten - couldn't shut up. Now, as everyone knows, I don't shut up either. But I do expect a basic level of listening skills and respect for those who are speaking. When I'm telling a story is not the time to discuss something that the story indirectly reminds you of, as kinder kids are easily distractable. Arrgh!

Wednesday
3rd grade -- can't follow directions to get out of a paper bag! Picture a class of 15-18 kids with worksheets on their desks. I give directions about the first, more confusing side. 25% can't figure out which side I'm talking about and keep flipping their page over, as if a huge splash of color is going to show up and indicate "THIS ONE!" The worksheet is all about following directions and identifying different parts of a library catalog record. Okay, fine - that side is finished.

"Do not turn the page over yet." Half the kids promptly turn the page over.
"I said, 'do not turn the page over'!" (sheepish looks from the kids)
I continue with the instructions, but 2 sentences later, 3 kids are looking at it again.
"Am I speaking in English?! What part of 'Do not turn the page over yet' are you not understanding?!" [Sheesh!]
"Remember, it is not a race to finish. The ones who have been finishing the fastest are the ones who are not thinking about the questions and getting them wrong." Two kids turn the page over.
"I JUST SAID, DO NOT TURN THE PAGE OVER!...."

Rinse, repeat 7 times - once for each section of 3rd grade.
And other teachers are saying the same things about their students this week, too, so I know it's not me, it's them!

Thursday
Looked out my kitchen window to see this cheeky bugger in my 4-1/2 foot tall persimmon tree.









Guess the rest of the persimmons were ripe!







I called cuteknitter and said I needed OUT, NOW! So we went here and had a great dinner with Anna and then to Knit Night at Purlescence. Definitely what I needed - thanks everyone!

Believe it or not, there has been movement on the fiber front!
My pink dot socks are getting closer to done. On the 2nd sock, need to start the heel...but couldn't remember how to do a shortrow heel because my instructions disappeared. One of Saturday's tasks is to clear off the couch of all yarn, the stack of patterns/books/magazines so we can actually sit there again! Maybe I'll find my missing page...or maybe I'll do the easy thing, search for the directions online (because I have the pdf in a computer file that's easier to find) and completely ignore the couch.

My other project is a baby blanket for one of our admin assistants. She's a new grandma, and our book club had a "Grandma shower" for her last week. As she will be picking up her granddaughter and babysitting every afternoon for a couple hours, she needs lots of fun stuff! The blanket I was making for her wasn't done yet, so I wrapped it and put a note with it "if this is returned to me, I'll make it big enough for you to wrap the baby in..." I arrived at the party a couple hours late, as I had to take The Dork to his fencing class (and traffic...ick!) first. As I walked in, Grandma said "where's your crochet hook and the extra yarn? This needs to get done!" This weekend should do it, but I'm making it up as I go, and have had to rip out several rows because it wasn't quite right.

FYI, cuteknitter has been a very bad enabler! (or good, from your point of view...) Fiber from here is arriving and I need to find room for it in my spinning stash. Guess I do have to clear off the couch after all...

And around 11:30 last night, Dear Hubby informed me that a plumber is now needed for issues in both bathrooms and , oh by the way, there is a roof leak in the office.

Such is life...

3 comments:

(formerly) no-blog-rachel said...

So....did the Sea Silk follow you home on Thursday? Because it's not purple, you know, so it's ok.

Zardra said...

Reminds me of a "test" a teacher gave my 3rd grade class... the top said read all the instructions. When you got to the bottom it said to put your name on the page and turn it in without actually answering any of the questions. Not a lot of my classmates passed that one.

Anonymous said...

Bwa ha ha!

"Enabler" is my middle name. I hope this week goes more smoothly. :)