chatter from the Library Monkey

crushing

i just sat down and I miss the internet. Maybe beer and pizza will help me to forget. Or maybe not.

I thought my drive would wake me up.

It’s the second time I’ve been in the home town in about a month and the second time I ran into the young woman from my plays. She was just a kid when we started, now I think she is in her 20’s maybe not, but her friend was buying beer. Said woman has a reputation of drinking too much, so I am not sure if I should be judgmental or not

after all she might be like me, drank one beer opened the second and fell asleep. She probably didn’t eat too much pizza though.

Up early and thinking too much. I decided that the kayak I loaded in my truck was not needed, so I took it out and in the process broke a porch window… Yet another summer project. I took the pizza box and kind of blocked the window…I just can’t get get that white trash look down.

The Tigers won the fourth in a row last night, pretty cool. It would be a turning point if they could win again tonight.

My back is kind of sore, from sleeping on the floor and hauling stuff around — and the long drive probably didn’t help. The fact I am running around handing out water will likely be difficult as well.

This is the first time I have handing out water when the racers are going towards my school town. I think it has worked out that this is the third time I have done it — first even year.

I changed the insoles in my shoes because my plantar fisticus is really flaring up. I never think that I could wear those things out, but when I compared them to another set they looked kind of beat.

During my year end review two weeks ago, my principal said I was doing ‘outstanding.’ If only I felt that way. I think I feel that way because of the inability to motivate my high school staff and the main teacher I work with in the middle school is retiring.

We had a rally for the retiring teacher and so many things were clear. First ’star’ did not get up and say anything the other English teacher who has worked with the retiring teacher and she wouldn’t say anything. The social studies teacher got up and mumbled about how she was someone he looked to as an example of how to teach. I took an unhumble delight in the fact that I was the only one who was asked for a copy of what I said. This might have been because I was the only one that had a piece of paper in my hand when I spoke.

During my yearend review, the principal said the only I could do was maybe present at conferences. I so wanted to say: “To be a presenter you really need to have a staff that will work with you so you can have good practices to use as a presentation.

A fellow SLMS who went to U@B presented at the last conference — Poetry Slams. I am sure he does an okay job, but he has several staff members who help him out. That actually do encouraging things — like bonus points. I asked the high school staff it would be possible to give out bonus points for returning books (at the end of the quarters). The response was as if I asked for a bare midriff day (for either the students or teachers — some of the teachers have a lot of midriff to bare).

• I am grateful for broccoli prizza
• I am grateful for a multi-game win streak by the Tigers
• I am grateful for the ability to write a good speech

The weekend isn’t coming fast enough

Tough night for me — tough week. It is a lot of things, The Tigers are playing so badly doesn’t help.

The main thing is the fact the coach I am helping has just been placed in a tough situation. A dad showed up to help with practice — it’s his second practice. He gave the coach a lineup. A lineup that goes 100 percent against my philosophy of instructional baseball AND to some extent life.

First he (with the assistance of his wife) scheduled his son second in the lineup and playing the whole game. Second he scheduled bobo (yes the guy who exhibited inappropriate behavior on the school bus with a girl and offered to burn down the library) to play the whole game. Those two players have missed a couple practices in the last two weeks, have argued with every decision the coach has made. Has not helped much in picking up the equipment.

AND, as if that wasn’t enough, have only participated in practice at about 75 percent because they are injured.

I find it hard to believe the arrogance of that kind of lineup. Yes it is a lineup oriented to winning, but disregards all principles. You don’t put players who argue with in the game, for the whole game, where they want to play, batting where they want to bat.

That wasn’t enough, and I hope they just didn’t think about it. We play with a combined school situation and we are playing at that school’s field and the dad didn’t put those players in the lineup, but for two innings each. I told the coach that he could do what he wanted, but there is no way he can not let the home team kid. Of course it is the same family that didn’t want to combine because they were afraid their kids would lose playing time. I don’t know what to do, the coach needs help, but it will be hard for me to be around if that parent has influence.

On Wednesday I had my normal dinner with a couple co-workers and I was telling the computer guy a story from the high school meeting. It was the time of the night when the other teacher falls asleep (8 p.m.), so I though I w talking to only him. I was telling how at the meeting all the new teachers were saying they didn’t feel supported. ALL THE NEW PEOPLE WERE SAYING THEY DIDN’T FEEL SUPPORTED. And the response was, “we can’t support you, or we would undermine your authority.”

At that point the teacher shows me she isn’t sleeping and says something like: “What do you want, you are always complaining about this, I don’t know what you want?” Which would be a great talking point, except she kept talking and basically kept saying I didn’t know what I was talking about. And when I said: “So when all new teachers say they don’t feel supported they are wrong?” she doesn’t answer that and says, “what job do you get supported, we have a mentor system.” and continues on. when i repeated: “are you saying when all new teachers say they don’t feel supported, they are wrong?” she continued to allude to me being a whiner (not directly) and not answer my questions.

I was so annoyed by the end of the night because she totally did not open up the discussion. I asked her if she wanted excuses and she wouldn’t respond. I told her there is no reason to discuss the issue if she had decided everyone is wrong.

This adds to the other things she has said in the past, she thinks my classroom management style is suspect. She doesn’t like that I would teaching typing, outside my certification. She is often critical of anything I do to help someone out — like helping the baseball coach out.

Which is the irony, here I am being supportive of the baseball coach and she is saying I am

The business teacher was told he wasn’t coming back. There are so many reasons, none that are obvious to him. An example would be he is doing a lesson on making a video — which he has allowed kids to go on YouTube and just watch as many videos as they want, while he goes to NFL web sites. I have nothing against youtube, but it should be structured.

Usually the people who obviously should be tossed, do things that make it clear, even afterwards. For example he told his students he was not coming back. I can doing that at the end of the school year, but not with five weeks to go. Most of the faculty didn’t know, but he told the kids. The kids put up a sign that said “keep teacher’s name” I guess this is easy for me to say

Much of that sign is due to the fact that his classes don’t teach the kids anything; have low expectations; and if you take his class your grade is an automatic 95. Lots of kids were thinking of signing up for his classes. In that regard, I guess it was good that the guy told the kids he wasn’t coming back, because everyone wanted to take his class for the easy grade.

Gratitude (3)

back home

Conferences are nice — great get aways, but I think you should be better prepared than I have been. I am not sure what I wanted to get out of this conference. Did I want to meet new people that could help me? not really. Meet old friends? not that I can think of — the people who I might be interested in meeting are not here, and probably wouldn’t be here.

Has anything in the world librarianship changed that I need to know about? I am sure, but nothing at this conference has showed me that.

Just had breakfast and listened to the SLMS meeting that people ate through, talked through, blogged through and zombi-ed through. Perhaps there were some good parties last night. I wasn’t invited to any, but then I didn’t care to be.

I was hoping that in my futility of my job, somehow tis conference might make me think — “being a librarian is the greatest thing in the world.’ Not really. Ironically my mentor/friend stated that in her speech. It wasn’t convincing enough for me.

I was glad to have a few people be nice to me. It was nice to hear that there are lots of teachers that are disrespectful to librarians at other schools and my school has not cornered the market. And that those same taechers tend to be disrespectful to their co-teachers and often don’t know about it…

I am not sure if the people who were nice to me, were nice because nice is right, or if they liked me. Or were perhaps interested in me romantic, if that was the case, they weren’t nice enough for that to be clear. Ironically I was thinking last night at dinner that there were about 130 librarians in the room and at best only six would consider sleeping with. And that is only on the superficial, visual level. Who knows what I would think if I actually talked to them.

There certainly has been enough time. Like the day starts with breakfast from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., after breakfast, the next seminar is at 9:30 a..m so I have an hour to hang. Those breaks range from 15 to 75 minutes. I have had some nap time and some typing time. Fortunately for the wireless some computer on line time.

I guess the time lag is great for those who would like to network.

The blogging thing kills me. There was a woman blogging during a gaming seminar (bringing educational games into the library and education). She spent time finding links to things he said and ended up writing a two paragraph blog. I wanted to lean over and say — “Why not just link to his site that he keeps saying has all the links.”

And that my friends is what is wrong with blogging: People what to repeat and take some kind of credit for it. I understand that you have become some kind of a guru and people are looking to you to educate them… Well put the links on and quite acting like you discovered something.

There will be a lot of ‘blog library,’ linking to ‘blog tech’ that is linked to ‘blog tech2,’ ‘blog tech3,’ etc. that are also linked to another site. So information x has 100 web sites related to it, BUT just says the samething over and over

the wonderful of being back

Two wonderfully sad things about my school dance in my face when I get back. First is I go to see the school play that ’star’ directs. It wasn’t the worse play I have ever seen, it is about #5. The first three worse would be the first three plays I saw the school put on…last year was about #7. #4 would be a performance of one of my plays that another school did.

There are two things that make these plays bad. The first is the kids don’t learn their lines (why should they, star stands on the sidelines feeding lines). The second is that it doesn’t seem to matter to the kids, community or star how bad the plays are. Theatre is the one place where our school could shine. There is the potential, not that I have seen any great acting…I think it is there.

The second thing was the ongoing e-mail from a mom of two jerks. It started out with son #2 who checked up a USB memory stick more than a month ago and did not return it. It was due the next day. I e-mailed the mom about it. The next day the kid came in and had it, but wasn’t going to give it to me. I should have written him up, after he accused me of stealing something from him

He told me that I had his…which his mother admitted he didn’t have one. I love it when the mother of Pinocchio wants to talk about minutia after she finds out her son accuses me of stealing his USB. She wanted me to rest at ease because she was going to buy Pinocchio one.

If that wasn’t enough, she also wanted to talk about her other son ‘ted bundy.’ The other kid is a psychotic. If we have had a serial killer in my school, he would be it. He totally can’t be trusted and his mother wants to know why I question things he does.

He had his computer use restricted because he got on a teacher’s profile and downloaded “How many five-year-olds you can beat up.” Since that time I caught him on a computer on another student’s profile and heard that he got on one of the computers in the office to change the background. I am not sure how many co-workers who would want to admit the kid is a jerk.

Here is a wonderful irony. ‘ted bundy’ is a jerk all the time — it is well known how reckless of a driver he is…and just general bad behavior in school. He was accepted into National Honor Society, which star advises.

What makes me frustrated about that, is not that ted bundy got on NHS, but that there is a kid who is really smart, insightful and trustworthy. He didn’t get on. He was in the crappy play tonight. I am sure he doesn’t like being in the play, but is willing to do it because ’star’ needs him. ted bundy is not in the play, he is not back stage and he is not in attendance.

Tigers, after sweeping the yankers, have just lost two games in Minnesota, which should not happen and could be swept by the Twins, that would be a disappointment

Gratitude (3)