Back in June, while I was up in north county checking out of my school, I stopped by a Thai foods store in order to get a few specialty ingredients. I bought various curry pastes, a giant bottle of fish sauce, tom yum soup paste, and a bag of sweet rice to make this recipe.
Now, I'm a little slow getting around to things (so much other stuff to do) and this recipe requires an overnight soak for the rice, but I got my act together and made it today. The rice was so good that I wound up spoiling my appetite for dinner a spoonful at a time! So, I did what the recipesmith does and just had a delicious bowl of Thai sticky rice nectarine for dinner.
What? You were expecting some other fruit? Mango, perhaps? Well, that had been the plan, only the mango I had sitting above the fridge, though it smelled delicious, was brown and odd inside and clearly not fit for human consumption. I'm not very good at ripening mangoes at home. I always leave them for too long. Luckily the nectarines I picked from R's family's backyard on Sunday were also delicious with the sticky rice.
In other happy news, I had my last day of summer classes today and finished up the paper for my masters project. All I have left is to present it on Friday, and then I'm all done. I can't believe it!
Recipe Review: Thai Sticky Rice Mango
Digital story rough draft
I thought I'd share the rough draft of my digital story with you all. Please feel free to leave me suggestions or constructive criticism.
Gazing into my crystal ball
It's time to blog for school again. What fun!
Blog Response #3: What is your 2020 Education Vision?
Looking into the near future, I think the event that will have the most significant event on the whole compulsory education complex will be the retirement of the baby boomer teachers. Looking at the teachers I know from that generation, specifically my mom and step-mom, I can tell they are definitely excited at the prospect, no matter how much they love teaching.
After the baby boomers retire, schools find themselves missing a large chunk of their returning teachers. New teachers will come into the profession, much as they have, but continued high rates of attrition (made worse by the retirement of mentor teachers and school leaders) will lead to teacher shortages. I imagine that 2020 will probably be a turning point for education, though the field will go in one of two opposing directions.
The first direction, the ideal one, would be for schools to reduce teacher hours and institute formal mentoring programs. During an extra free period, novice teachers would meet with more experienced colleagues for advice, planning tips, and even (hopefully) to share materials. By giving teachers a little more time to plan, network, grade, and contact parents, attrition rates will decrease. School curricula will be refined, while at the same time becoming more inventive, thanks again to the increased planning time.
The second direction, the non-ideal but more probable one, is that the prerequisites for going into teaching will be lowered in an attempt to shovel more bodies into classrooms as fast as possible. The constant influx of new inexperienced teachers will hinder any attempt to institute school programs and policies, as participants will change from year to year. Staff development will also suffer, as many new teachers leave prior to or immediately after completing induction. In an attempt to counteract the inexperience of the majority of the teaching staff, more schools will adopt prescribed curricula, decreasing educational flexibility and experimentation.
Wow, that was depressing. Time for a gratuitous cat picture!
moar funny pictures
Full circle
There is something about the Internet that makes people act like kids again -- at least, while they're still Internet neophytes.
How do I know this? Simple. Who is it that I get chain e-mails from? My middle school students and my mom.
A menu to impress one's mother
I'd say it also impressed my future in-laws, but, as they said to my mother, they've always had good food at my house. My mom is the one who, despite all reports to the contrary, refused to believe that my cooking skills had improved since middle school. Of course, this was one I couldn't win either way, as her comments on the improvement of my cooking skills echoed of kindergarten teacherly judgment and really rankled (though, prior to beginning to teach, my mom did apologize for the fact that she would inevitably talk to us in her teacher voice).
In any case, here was the menu last Sunday:
- Caramelized spicy peanuts
- Garlic brandy shrimp
- Caramelized onion and leek tart
- Pasta with butter, Parmesan cheese, and pepper
- Salad
The meal was a smashing success. I really can't recommend the shrimp recipe highly enough. Simple, fast, and completely delicious. Everyone loved it. R was quite jealous that I got to eat what little was left over, so you can tell this recipe will be made again in the near future.
The tart (inspired by this recipe) was good, but I think it could have been better. I caramelized the onions and leeks, spread them on a sheet of puff pasty, grated a little cheese on them, then baked (no fennel seeds for us, thank you). The sides of the pasty wound up puffing up, but the onion-covered parts did not. Next time, I think I'll bake the pastry on its own for a bit before adding the onions, just to give it a little more volume. Still, quite a successful evening.
Digital story ideas
My next task for my technology class is to try out podcasting. In class we had the option of using iMovie for this activity, however some of us prefer to talk to ourselves in the privacy of our own homes. For those of you who, like myself, are not Mac people, Audacity also works pretty well for this purpose and is, conveniently, free.
Our assignment is to talk about our digital story ideas, the culmination of which will be appearing on TeacherTube later next month for your viewing pleasure. Here is what I have so far.
In a final aside, I never realized how much cool stuff is available for free on iTunes. The iTunes U section of the store is full of edifying podcasts and I have completely fallen in love with it. I spent my workout today listening to a lecture/interview about Islam and the West from Open University and have downloaded a whole series of podcasts to brush up on my Spanish.
Abusing my blog for fun and academic credit
Summer classes started today, and one part of the technology class I am taking is a requirement to blog. For those of us who already have blogs, we've been given the option of just using our pre-existing blogs. So, for your reading pleasure, here is my first course assignment.
My other story is more of the heartwarming sort. One of my sixth grade advisory students received a number of awards at our end of the year ceremony. When we had adjourned out back to feast on watermelon, I went over to congratulate her. Our conversation went something like this:
'Twas the night before the last day of school
This whole moment in time seems very surreal. The Last Day of School.
The first day of school is still fresh in my mind, with the terror and the wondering how I would make it through the year, yet here we are. It seems like so little time has passed, probably because the beginning and ending are so clearly demarcated in time, but I suppose a lot has happened. I've moved from being nervous and sweaty to confident and apathetic. I know I can do this now. I also know I don't want to do this for a living.
I left the school positively giddy. My last day of teaching is over! Tomorrow is just supervising yearbook signing for the sixth graders! I'll likely never see any of the ninth graders ever again! Sure, I still will have to go to work Friday and Monday to close up shop, but no more students!
During my afternoon bike ride, however, I found myself not being able to breathe quite right and being (quite irrationally) annoyed at R because he could ride faster than I could. I wasn't really mad at him, but my throat was feeling all tight and painful, as were my tear ducts...
Yes, apparently I was more affected by the end of school than I had initially realized. A few of my students really were quite interesting people, and when you spend every day with a group of people for nine months it is somewhat natural to get attached. I think a few of them are even going to miss me too. I had several conversations along the lines of:
"Bye! See you next year!"
"Uh, no you won't. I'm moving. It's been fun. Have a nice life."
"Oh no!"
At which point in time I received several hugs. Somehow, though, I don't think they'll miss me quite as much as I'll miss them. I suppose this is what keeps people in teaching.
Still don't want to do it again, though.
Recipe Review: Applesauce
Alternately, this post could be titled "What I do with my evenings now that I don't have class."
Of course, this is just the first week without evening classes and also the last week of school, so I could just be feeling giddy. Anyway, I decided it was time to harvest some of the apples from my lovely apple tree and make applesauce. I love applesauce and I also hate to see things go to waste, even bird-pecked apples. Given that my garden appears to be feeding all of the local wildlife, it is really no surprise that the majority of the apples have a few divots taken out of them, if not large chunks.
The recipe I used was from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving I recently bought, along with some tools to keep me from dropping jars of jam into boiling water and scalding myself. I'll tell you now, the can lifter they have make canning much less frightening than it was when I was using my standard-issue tongs. I'm also glad the whole thing is no longer a two-man operation.
This is the first recipe I have tried out of this book, though I have bookmarked a few others. There are definitely some odd ones (the page opposite applesauce has a recipe for "strawberry smooch," whatever the hell that is), but it seems to have enough good recipes and tips to make it worth the money. Makes a darn tasty applesauce.
Applesauce
Adapted from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
Makes about 4 quarts (I got 6, but I think I like a thinner applesauce)
- 12 lbs. apples, peeled (or not, if you're planning on using a food mill like I did), cored, quartered, treated to prevent browning, and drained
- water
- 3 c. granulated sugar (optional) (I wound up using 1 c. to take the edge off, as a few of the apples I picked were still a little green)
- 4 T lemon juice
- cinnamon (optional)
2. In a large saucepan (more like a vat), combine apples with just enough water to keep them from sticking. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring occasionally, for 5-20 minutes, until the apples are tender (time will depend on the variety of apple and their maturity). Remove from heat and let cool slightly, about 5 minutes.
3. Working in batches, transfer apples to a food mill or food processor fitted with a metal blade and puree until smooth. (After all the apples were out of the water, I reserved ~ 4 c. and poured the rest out.)
4. Return apple puree to saucepan. Add sugar, if using, and lemon juice; bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently to prevent sticking (you can also add some of the reserved apple-water to loosen things up). Maintain a gentle boil over low heat while filling jars.
5. Ladle hot applesauce into hot jars, leaving 1/2 in. headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot applesauce. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.
6. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 20 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool, and store.
Clueless
Apparently the question "How does it work?" is a bit too much for some of my students. Here is an excerpt from a research poster:
This is a supercharger for the gt500. What the supercharger does is it gives the car power. Also the supercharger is a source for more power for the car. Then the supercharger also gives 130 more horsepower to the car. How the supercharger works is when you press the gas it gives you more power.
This answer was after a lot of coaching. You can tell that I kept asking "but how does it work?" when the student would tell me he was done. He just didn't want to do a search on the Internet, for some reason.
10 years of Girl Scouts and still not prepared
Last night I had to compose a test by candlelight.
I suppose it was just a lesson for why you really shouldn't leave off making your tests for the night before. I started it in the afternoon, but then I wanted dinner, and after that I figured I could finish it after Warcraft. Well, we had just signed on when all of the sudden the house fell black and silent. We went outside, only to find that our half of the circle we live on was also dark and silent. My first thoughts went to my partially completed test. I needed it for first period! My laptop only had a little juice left!
Luckily, we had some candles (and wound up taking a trip to Target to get a lantern), so I composed my test on paper before turning on my laptop. Since I didn't sit there thinking, I wound up having just enough power. Phew.
15 days (and counting)
A few weeks ago, I started getting brief flashes of why I thought I wanted to go into teaching in the first place. Not large interludes, mind you, but pleasant moments of student-teacher and overheard student-student interaction. I got to facilitate a little bit of learning, and started thinking that this job does have its moments.
I'm sure this sounds quite nice to all of you out there. "Aww, she finally reconciled herself with her calling." If you thought that, though, you would be wrong. I had come to terms with hating teaching, so the idea that it might, in time, become a bearable and even rewarding profession stirred up a good deal of conflict. What if I did belong in this horrible, stressful, time-consuming profession?
Luckily for me, the past week has totally killed all the warm fuzzy feelings I was having. There has been a school-wide plague of discipline problems, and my classes certainly haven't been excused from the madness. My 9th graders' hormones are apparently going crazy, leading to a good deal of lip, emotional drama, bullying (of my 6th grade students, no less), and drawing penises on chairs while being sent outside for inappropriate comments. The school was TPd again.
We've been trying to crack down a little bit on the discipline. Three of my students were out on suspension today; two for getting in a bloody fight with each other, the third for pot. One of my 7th graders will be out all week, due to a combination of truancy and theft during Saturday school. I'm running a one-woman campaign to see that detentions are enforced (follow up is rather lax). I'm just hoping we all make it to the end of the year. I think we're all counting the days at this point. 15...
Turning students into cacti
No, I haven't discovered some sort of magical formula for turning troublesome children into passive vegetables (aside from TV, that is). I suppose a more accurate statement would be "turning students' money into cacti" or possibly even "obtaining money from your students for fun and profit."
At the bottom of this convoluted chain is the fact that my 6th graders are never ever prepared for class. There are always a few in need of writing utensils, and I'm certain that the majority of the class does not have a sheet of paper to their name. I've got a small supply of writing utensils, many of which I've collected from the classroom after the class has been dismissed, but my students were constantly forgetting to return said utensils after they borrowed them. After a while, I started asking for collateral.
Now, I've heard of some teachers making students leave a shoe when they borrow a pencil, but I really wasn't interested in having a desk full of stinky kid shoes. When they asked what I wanted I simply specified that it was to be something that they would miss, leaving them to figure out what to leave with me. Frequently, I get backpacks and binders, but on one occasion a student gave me their cell phone.
A couple of weeks ago, one of my more chronically unprepared students started using money as collateral. Generally he'll give me a dollar, but on one occasion he gave me five. Unfortunately for him, he's also fairly distracted, so he wound up forgetting about his money on two occasions, leaving me with two dollars. Had he brought me a pencil the next class session, I would have gladly given it back, but he seemed to have forgotten all about it.
So, there I was with two dollars of student money that I didn't really know what to do with. I would have felt a little odd spending it on myself, but at the same time the student gave me the dollar for the express purpose of repaying me for the writing utensil he took. Lucky for me, my guilt was alleviated by another one of my students, who was selling cacti for two dollars as a fund raiser for the softball team. Putting the money back into the school seemed like the most appropriate use for it, plus I got something cute for my garden.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you turn students into cacti.
How to make a bottle biome
Aaaand we're back! PACT (due on the 14th) and wedding invitations (for some reason, I have to get them out this week, though I don't understand why I feel that way) conspired to wipe me off the face of the blogosphere, but now that they're basically out of the way I'm free to answer my fan mail.
Okay, so fan mail might be too big of a word, but I did get a request for instructions on making a bottle biome. Hope I'm not too late to be of help!
Step 1: Find 3 clear 2 L soda bottles (the green ones work, too, but not quite) and remove their labels. Cut bottle #1 near the top, after the point where the sides start to curve inward. Cut bottle #2 near the bottom, before the point at which the plastic changes density and becomes really hard to cut. Cut bottle #3 near the top, before the point at which the sides start to curve inward. You'll probably want to start the cuts on all of these with a razor, then continue with scissors.
Step 2: Bottle #1 is going to be your aquatic section, so if you want to take any measurements or mess around with it later you should cut a hole in the side. The easiest way to do this is to stick a small piece of lumber into the bottle and cut out a square of plastic using the razor blade, cutting against the wood so that you don't cut your hand off. Keep the piece of plastic and tape it in place, so that the compartment can remain sealed while you're not taking measurements.
Step 3: Using a decently thick nail (not those tiny ones from Ikea), hammer a hole into the cap of bottle #2 (you should probably take the cap off for this and hammer the nail into that piece of wood you used in step 2). Thread a pre-soaked piece of cotton string through this hole. This will serve as a wick, carrying water from the aquatic chamber into the terrestrial chamber, so you need to have enough string to reach the water below and still make a decent loop above. Using a thumbtack, poke some holes in the part of bottle #2 near the cap, so that water will be able to drain out of the terrestrial section (but not so far up that they will be open to the outside world. Put all the pieces together, fill with some dirt, water the soil, and let it drain prior to putting the whole thing together (if you don't, your water will be really funky).
Step 4: Put all the pieces together. Fill bottle #1 with water (dechlorinate if needed), and then add aquatic plants and fish. Place bottle #2 on top and tape the two together. Plant terrestrial plants and add any bugs or tiny animals you might like. Finally, cap with bottle #3 and tape the whole thing shut, forming a nice tight seal (packing tape is good for this). Place in a sunny spot and enjoy!
Disclaimer: This project involves a razor blade and a hammer. I take no responsibility for your actions or safety. If you cut yourself or smash your wee little fingers, it's your own damn fault.
Grading hurts my brain
"Global warming happens when greenhouses gases are released into the atmosphere, and creates holes in its thin layer this cause the sun to change the earth's envioment."
So close, and yet so, so far.
Teacher A's Complaint of the Day
My students suck at plagiarism.
I mean, I know it's good that it's easy for me to catch it, but at the same time I can't believe how stupid they are when going about it. Don't cut and paste directly from websites! Do you know how easy it is for me to find that website? So easy! Plus, when the other student are heckling your presentation because of how badly you plagiarized, you better not deny it when I confront you about it later. That just makes me mad, especially if you show no remorse, which means you won't get a chance to make up the big, fat zero you will be getting on this month-long research project.
The Growing Challenge #4: Germination!
Huston, we're got sprouts.
Being a first-time planter of seeds, I spent the whole week fretting over my little egg carton full of seeds. They seem a little dry. Was I supposed to water them? Didn't the coconut fiber keep them wet? Am I watering them too much? Did I kill the seeds by over or under watering them? Luckily for my sanity, one of the pear tomatoes sprouted this morning. They've continued popping up through the day, and now almost all of the tomatoes are peeking out of their nests. No peppers yet, but apparently they can take up to two weeks to germinate.
Now that the plants are growing, I've got to figure out how to keep them that way. I spent all morning trying to figure out where I could find a spot for the plants that is sunny and, more importantly, cat free. Lucky for me, I remembered that my school has several grow lamps that we used last fall for our bottle biomes that currently aren't being used. I don't think they will mind if I borrow them for a month or so to grow plants in my garage (which is delightfully free of cats).
As it has been raining here in San Diego, I had also been worrying about the seeds I had planted outside. Having played an inordinate amount of Harvest Moon, I've gotten the impression that you need to time planting properly when it comes to rain. If you plant when its raining (in the game), the seeds wash away. I was worried that all the rain we've been getting had washed away or drowned my seeds (not that we've gotten enough rain to wash away anything). After seeing the sprouted tomatoes, I rolled up my pajama cuffs, got out my umbrella, and went to check on my seeds. No cucumber sprouts yet, but two little radishes. I should probably plant another row of radishes, but I think I'll wait until tomorrow. I'd hate to have the seeds wash away. I think the harvest elves would be ashamed of me.
image credit
Procrastnating
I should be planning for school and working on homework, so of course I spent all yesterday entering recipes into TasteBook. I'm really enthralled with the idea of having a professional looking cookbook instead of a binder full of scraps of paper. I'm not sure if I should be sad that, after all this time, I only have 30 recipes that I like enough to make again. I suppose that doesn't include the little things that I can throw together and are too simple (or impromptu) to require a recipe, so I should be so hard on myself.
Foiled again
Does anyone out there know anything about LCD projectors? The one in one of the classrooms I use keeps turning itself off after about a half hour into movies. We've replaced the bulb, but it just keeps doing it. It also doesn't do that when I'm just showing PowerPoint presentations, and the other projectors don't do it at all, so I know there is something up with this one. It's just so frustrating to plan on watching a movie, only to have the projector shut itself off and refuse to turn back on.