Behold the power of Google...
When I was a not so wee 4th-grader, I went to a kids concert put on by the Longview Symphony. The emotion of one particular piece has stuck with me all these years. Not having the essay that I wrote afterward on hand to find the name of song, I googled it because I remebered it was about a princess. (The essay was for a contest that I took first place in...got $25 and a free concert ticket :-)
Lo an behold, I discovered the orchestral piece by Maurice Ravel, "Pavan for a Dead Princess" I and fairly positive this is the piece...all I could ever remember about the name was princess and the title started with a P and was a rather short word...but not too foreign sounding. I just listened to a clip and it sounds like something I would like (well, I do like).
Google. It's crazy fun.
So another month is over--another month for which to pay bills, teach, sleep, and such.
I can't believe how fast and yet how slow the school year seems to be going by. I spend the weekend at the regional TI conference in Kilgore. It was a lot of fun hanging out with my math teaching buddies and seeing a few other familiar faces from the math world. I even won a door prize at the very end! My very own Smartview Software. It was either that, TI Interactive or a NuMBERs t-shirt. I walked away with a technology wish-list and such, and new ideas for the classroom, or at least, the future.
Nothing much interesting has been going on in our lives. We've both been taking turns being sick the last two weeks. Nasty sinus crud. I've also been experience worse pain in both my knees and my right calf--kind of where the Achilles tendon is... but at least it in't a blood clot.
It seems the last week has been filled with baby news from all over my little world--hearing that some friends are pregnant, hearing one friend safely delivered her little boy, finding out someone else will be having a girl, and one of the teachers at school is gonna be a grandma...that kind of thing. and I know of two other people who are at least trying. But we are not inspired :-) Maybe when Josh's loans go down...or at any rate, when God says so.
I've had all sorts of various thoughts and ideas floating around...but none of them have really taken hold for serious thought and discussion. Oh, i did discover the beauty of the hasting teacher discount card :-DDDDD In fact, i'm about to price out how much the Numbers Seasons 1 and 2 would cost... (I could actually use them in teaching!)
Anyways. that's my update for now.
I attended the first of a series of Algebra workshops today and was quite excited because I actually learned something! and met more cool math teachers :-p Some of the workshops I've gone too have been ok, but today it was great!
I learned that roots/solutions are NOT the same as zeros/x-intercepts.
I also got a better feel for the TEKs and how nice the revisions made things.
I had a yummy lunch at the Cracker Barrel with some new teacher friends.
and I got my very own TI-84 Plus Silver Edition calculator. I'll get software at some of the later sessions.
anyways. just wanted to post about my fun day.
Well, while I didn't do anything to remember Columbus specifically, I did spend the weekend visiting my brother/sister-in-law-nephew, parents, and brother. We had a grand time with lots of good food--gumbo, breakfast tacos, and brisket & ribs with homemade potato salad....
We were also all entertained by my 11-month old nephew who appears to be able to walk while not having actually taken his first step :-) He will very very soon. He's a pretty good kid who is going to miss all the attention he had in a few days.
I did get a fair bit of grading done as that is what tends to happen with my occasional holiday. Now, as soon as I finish checking email I'm going to type up a test review for the week and take a shower and head to bed.
Interesting tidbits of O. Family News:
*My sister's husband got a job as a lead news anchor.
*My older nephew pushed my niece down the stairs, and when asked what was he thinking about: "Jesus"
*My niece broke her clavicle climbing around on the a recliner chair at Sam's...this didn't stop her from continuing to climb around the rest of the day...
*My mom has applied for a new job working for the county in CO...
*My dad's ankle is doing awesome and he seemed to be in much better spirits
*My younger brother is learning to play the guitar
Pray for two students of mine...
One who is cutting herself and flat out doesn't care. She got suspended for at least 3 days because she had the box-cutter out in my class cutting herself during an activity today.
A friend of hers also cut herself in my class today but stopped because "I know it's stupid." She just was suspended the rest of the day. She's had a rough week in general because her sort-of step-mother died last week. (Her father and the lady weren't married, but had been together for 3 years and were planning on marrying)
It turned into a difficult day today.