...Grandma's opal ring...

I called my grandma the other night and she said that she was out with some of her girlfriends the other night, sitting in the backseat of the car.  When she went to get out of the car, the person who had been sitting in the driver's seat shut the door without realizing/thinking my Grandma was getting out and had her hand there.  Her hand was crushed by the door... but when they looked at her hand they saw that it was only badly badly bruised.  Unfortunately the impact smashed the opal ring that my Grandpa had given her for their 25th anniversary.  Part of the opal was totally smushed and was laying on the concrete.  The other part was still in the ring but badly dented.  All the surrounding diamonds were okay.  The ring saved her finger from being broken.  I didn't tell her this because I couldn't get it out of my mouth without getting choked up, but I contend that Grandpa was looking out for her even in death.

...open casting call for Portuguese/Hawaiian recipes...

I have a GREAT idea for my best friend's Christmas present.  But, I need help.  There's a bit on the Internet and I could potentially get it all done by looking there, but that would leave out the personal touch that real people put into their recipes.  So, I'm making a small, personalized recipe book for my friend.  She is proud of her Portuguese-Hawaiian ethnicity.  She's "white" though and so doesn't have a ton of ties to that background, but would like to learn more.  So, do you know or have a recipe that would tie to her background?  She doesn't like fish (which I noticed already on a preliminary search limits the recipe book a lot) and she doesn't like pork.  Anything else goes.  Spicy is great, sausage is great, rice is great.  She likes pretty much anything else.  Easy meals are best, either 30 minutes to make, or those good work meals where you fix it, forget it, and then eat it.  You can email recipes to me, post them here, or post a link for me and point me to helpful website.  Any help muchly appreciated!

Currently Watching Freedom Writers (Full Screen Edition) By Hilary Swank, Patrick Dempsey, Scott Glenn, Imelda Staunton, April L. Hernandez see related

...unsung pillars of education...

I'm currently watching Freedom Writers.  It's late at night and I tuned in, have been wanting to see this movie, even though I knew it would be bad.  I read the book (which I think I even reviewed in an entry here on my Xanga).  The movie started awfully.  Super-white teacher with her lame-ass lesson plans.  I wish the film would have focused more on the student's opening-up to her instead of a montage of their field trips.

But, I came to the conclusion with this movie that I've considered before.  Spouses of teachers are the unsung heroes of education.  All the ones I know at least.  The guy character in the film is just uber-retarded.  He wasn't in the book either so I'm wondering if he's just a plot device and wasn't part of Gruwell's life.  But that guy just reinforced how much I depend on my husband, and even though it's unknowing... how much my students depend on my husband.  He listens to me rant, complain, yell, and cherish these kids.  He knows their names (or at least the nicknames I give them, like "Quiet Girl" etc) he knows their strengths/weaknesses, and he knows my hopes and dreams for them.  If I chose to work another job my husband would support me (not that I would EVER work a 2nd job on top of student... not that I COULD work a 2nd job and be an effective teacher).  Every big decision I make on campus goes by my husband first.  And with my teaching friends I get the same impression from their husbands as well (yup, we're all typically female teachers).  Unsung pillars of strength.  Yup.

...lessons already...

We went and bought K his first real bed today at Ikea.  I'm super excited and can't wait to help put it together and take lots of pictures and scrap about it!

My brain is in lesson plan mode.  It's so weird that I wait all spring semester to get out of school for the summer and then as soon as the summer's here I can't wait to lesson plan and make really great units.  Part of it is that I want to "fix" this past year.  Most of it is that I want to be a great teacher, have really in-depth lessons, and be effective.  Next year I'm thinking of not really touching the textbook much except for a few short stories.  I'm actually thinking of doing all novels next year (the usual is all short stories 1st semester and two or three novels 2nd semester).  Possiblilities I'm considering for English 9 Honors:

• Always Running
• Bluest Eye
• Fallen Angels
• Flowers for Algernon
• Frankenstein
• Hamlet
• Heart is a Lonely Hunter
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
• Nervous Conditions
• Night
• Of Mice and Men
• Old Man and the Sea
• Things Fall Apart
• Tortilla Curtain
• Tree Grows in Brooklyn
• Z for Zachariah

It's not that we're going to read all those books, no freakin' way!  It's just that those are the books available to the ninth grade level.  Some are specifically for 9th and some are not assigned to any grade (meaning they're free for the pickins).  I've read a few myself, but most of them I haven't.  I've taught Fallen Angels, Night, and Caged Bird before.  Hmmmm.... options, options, options.